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?

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I too have noticed there seems to be a preponderance of lefties in medicine. In other jobs I've had I was often the only lefty. It's nice to not be the only one anymore.

[broknsole]

Does it count / is it weird that I always wished I was left handed? :-p

[XmasShopperRN, ASN, RN]

August 13th: Happy Left Handers Day!

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I always get asked if I am a lefty. I tend to do things like foleys, and NGT's left handed. I have no idea why. I just do. I know when I was learning to write my mom kept making me choose only one hand. I guess I used to just use either hand. I can't write left handed (at least legibly), but I eat left handed most of the time.

[db2xs]

I always get asked if I am a lefty. I tend to do things like foleys, and NGT's left handed. I have no idea why. I just do. I know when I was learning to write my mom kept making me choose only one hand. I guess I used to just use either hand. I can't write left handed (at least legibly), but I eat left handed most of the time.

nrsang97, that is like me too. I write with my right but do everything else with my left. It just seems more natural that way. I am often asked if I am left-handed.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

I guess the OP didn't get the memo. It is part of Obamacare. Since Obama is left handed, they are phasing in more left handed people until it is only lefties in the medical field. Righties have two choices: Adapt to our world or get out of the medical field.

[SweetMelissaRN]

I guess the OP didn't get the memo. It is part of Obamacare. Since Obama is left handed they are phasing in more left handed people until it is only lefties in the medical field. Righties have two choices: Adapt to our world or get out of the medical field.[/quote']

Haha! This literally made me LOL at work!

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

I could have written this exact post! I am also a lefty and have noticed far more lefties in the medical profession than in any other I've worked. I am a second-career nurse and worked in other corporate type jobs and there are, by far, more lefties in the med field.

I'm also in the ER and love that I can work more easily on the left side of a patient and some others work well on the right. It is just a good balance!

Let's hear it for the Southpaws!!

m

[amoLucia]

This is a late post that I just saw - don't know how I missed it as I like these kinds of left/right things. I'm a lefty too, but do a lot of stuff as a righty. Years ago when I first worked, it was in the units. My unofficial observation was that ICU nurses tended to be righties, while CCU nurses tended to be lefties. Seemed to occur at several facilities that I worked at.

[somewhereincarolina]

It's not just left handedness, but lefties have overlap between the brain hemispheres. I'm not a nurse, but my birth mother didn't know she was pregnant with me for over 4 months and was taking DES. She decided to wait until after I was born to approach my parents about a private adoption because she was so afraid of birth defects.

I also had a Patent Foramen Ovale flap in my heart and factor V leiden, a blood clot disorder--neither I knew about until I had a TIA then stroke a week after my 26th birthday-late September, early October.. I was at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and the entire neurology department and all the students followed my case because it was so unusual. They used the word Zebra a lot to describe me--I swear I was a horse before the stroke!! Thankfully, the cardiac doctor that repaired my PFO was one of two doctors who developed the umbrella like patch that could be placed via catheter instead of open heart surgery--with the clotting disorder, surgery is more difficult for me.

The strangest part of my stroke which interested the neurologists the most was what I lost. I have a nickel sized dead spot in the right frontal lobe. The doctors said that I should have lost ALL my speech. Since I was left handed, the lobes overlap. I was paralyzed from the elbow down on my left hand, but with tons of therapy, I've gotten about 97% function back.

I was also semi-fluent in French. Since Detroit is right by Canada, we could get French Canadian radio. I stayed current in my French that way. After the stroke, I could no longer understand a lot of spoken French because they talk so fast. I can read French--I just have to have my dictionary since I've lost a lot of my vocabulary. The strangest part is that when I think about what I'm going to say or write in French, my sentence structure and verb tenses are high school level at least.

It was just bizarre. I am very thankful that I could get so much function back into my arm, and I didn't lose all my French or English. I had the best nurses as well.

I wanted to go into medicine, but I didn't have the stamina. I've always had a severe sinus tachycardia. I can't exercise much, other than walking because my heart rate will go up to the 150s or higher and not come down. I went into art and loved it. It is amazing to me how much our brains control our handedness. I have learned to do a lot more things with my right hand, but my left hand, eye, and foot will always be dominate.

[Courtnage]

I am a leftie and have also noticed that many of my colleagues are as well. We are all midwives. I have often wondered if there is a link between left handers and a predisposition to enter a healthcare or caring career pathway. I'm a non identical twin, she is right handed, but my mum is a leftie and worked in healthcare for years.

[SouthpawRN]

Because we rock! It's fun to loan someone my left handed bandage scissors and watch them fumble around trying to cut something, then say, let me do that, take my scissors back and cut it no problem right in front of them.