Left handed nurses, med personnel

[Vanfnp]

Has anyone else ever noticed just how many left handed people seem drawn into the medical field? I'm a lefty myself and will often see 3 or 4 lefties at the same desk and am curious...have seen this at several facilities, mainly in ED settings, anyone else see this quirk?

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

On my floor (PCU) we have one lefty and she is our go-to person for difficult IV starts. In the ER I haven't noticed any lefties, lol.

[SweetMelissaRN]

I'm a lefty and work in ED so I'm going to say yes :)

[huskerdont]

I'm a lefty nursing student and I work in a medical office. I haven't been around so many left-handed folks in my entire life!

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

The overwhelming majority of US presidents in the 20th/ 21st centuries have been lefties as well.

I'm the only lefty on my unit. It was either nursing of relief pitching in the major leagues..............

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I'm a lefty, but I hadn't noticed any trends on the units I've been on. I never gave it much thought.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

There aren't many nursing situations in which 'handedness' is an issue, but I thought I'd share one... I worked with a cardiology group a few years back - they were all Lefties! And they did a brisk business in heart caths. Setting up the room required moving everything around to accommodate their lefty-ness. It became apparent that 'righty' nurses, no matter how experienced, were very clumsy working alongside them due to these accommodations. As a result, we went out and recruited some lefty nurses to train for cath lab... which solved all our problems!

I always wondered how they managed to fill any vacancies that may have occurred afterward. After all, wouldn't it have been discriminatory to limit hiring to only lefties? Or, in that case, would "lefthanded" be an actual bona fide job requirement? Hmm - food for thought.

But more importantly - what is the best supplier for Lefty clinical gear - scissors, hemostats, etc?

[Sunflowerinsc, ADN, RN]

There have been times when there are several left handed staff where I was working. I was always the go to nurse for IV starts. Some patients would comment about the needle in my left hand. Back in the day when we charted on paper, and had lists , they would know it was my left handed check marks.

[PureLifeRN]

I work in the OR and my first day one of the surgeons approached me and said "Are you a genius or braindead, because those are the only two options for lefties." lol. I said genius, of course!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

There are lots of lefties everywhere I've worked, and many of the places I visit (almost ALL of the staff at my psychiatrist's office are southpaws). And of course, there's me, plus my mother, sister, one daughter, and one grandson (so far) who were or are left-handed as well.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

When I worked in the hospital, I had many left-handed colleagues. I also have several left-handed doctors.

[PalmHarborMom]

I guess being both right handed and left handed is on the weird side. I do write with my left hand but most other things are done left handed. Blood draws seem to be much easier for me left handed. Though being a student nurse, sometimes I'm asked by preceptors if I'm left handed.

Here's funny though... when my daughter was young, my husband and I could not figure out why she could not tie her shoes despite us both working with her. Then the hubby noticed me tying my sneakers and asked if that was how I was showing our daughter. Well, duh.... How else would I show her? Evidently, I tie shoes left handed & was showing her my way and he was showing her right handed. Totally confused the poor girl! I let him take over the shoe tying instruction and took over when our son (a leftie) learned to tie his shoes.