Work Experience Fainting!!

Hi

I'm (hopefully) a future medic and though I've known I want to be a doctor for a couple of years now, I knew I DEFINITELY wanted to be one after doing some work experience. Today tho I was in the GP and the doctor was doing a minor op of removing a toenail and I fainted. I don't know for sure what caused the fainting tho because it was VERY warm in the room and I had been standing up for a long time but also I don't mind blood and it wasnt until he pulled the nail off that I fainted.
It scared me because I started thinking maybe it was the surgery and then what would I be like in major surgery..Can anyone tell me if fainting is normal and you get used to it?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

thegodofgod

19

Original post by flying high

Hi

I'm (hopefully) a future medic and though I've known I want to be a doctor for a couple of years now, I knew I DEFINITELY wanted to be one after doing some work experience. Today tho I was in the GP and the doctor was doing a minor op of removing a toenail and I fainted. I don't know for sure what caused the fainting tho because it was VERY warm in the room and I had been standing up for a long time but also I don't mind blood and it wasnt until he pulled the nail off that I fainted.
It scared me because I started thinking maybe it was the surgery and then what would I be like in major surgery..Can anyone tell me if fainting is normal and you get used to it?

Thanks :smile:

Probably just because it got stuffy in the room - nothing to worry about :smile:

Reply 2

kingcoltzan

9

Edit

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3

Miss_Scarlett

15

Original post by flying high

Hi

I'm (hopefully) a future medic and though I've known I want to be a doctor for a couple of years now, I knew I DEFINITELY wanted to be one after doing some work experience. Today tho I was in the GP and the doctor was doing a minor op of removing a toenail and I fainted. I don't know for sure what caused the fainting tho because it was VERY warm in the room and I had been standing up for a long time but also I don't mind blood and it wasnt until he pulled the nail off that I fainted.
It scared me because I started thinking maybe it was the surgery and then what would I be like in major surgery..Can anyone tell me if fainting is normal and you get used to it?

Thanks :smile:

Dont worry about it.

Im a medical student. And when I was just starting second year, we were being keenos and viewing surgery. In the prep room the anaesthetist was trying to put a central line into a baby (as you know babies have weird necks)....

....they couldnt get it in, so you had 2 metal wires trying to guide the line in and then this blood all over the neck.

Im not squeemish at all, we had been in dissection numerous times....fine. Theatre numerous times...fine. But this time...No. I had to try to walk away from the table/patient otherwise I would have fainted all over the place... I managed to kick the biological waste bin over on the way :h:

(I have style :h:

)

I think it happens to most people at least once :p:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

nexttime

22

Original post by flying high

Hi

I'm (hopefully) a future medic and though I've known I want to be a doctor for a couple of years now, I knew I DEFINITELY wanted to be one after doing some work experience. Today tho I was in the GP and the doctor was doing a minor op of removing a toenail and I fainted. I don't know for sure what caused the fainting tho because it was VERY warm in the room and I had been standing up for a long time but also I don't mind blood and it wasnt until he pulled the nail off that I fainted.
It scared me because I started thinking maybe it was the surgery and then what would I be like in major surgery..Can anyone tell me if fainting is normal and you get used to it?

Thanks :smile:

Firstly, those conditions are very prone to fainting, relatively speaking. Warmth makes people faint - the combination of dehydration and the blood moving to the periphery strain the circulation more than usual. Secondly, i personally find minor surgery far more ... stressful... than major surgery. Minor surgery emphasizes the human side, if that makes any sense. The patient may be speaking and engaging with you etc. This compares with major surgery, where the sedate patient is usually covered up and becomes more of a surgical specimen than a real person. I have never had any problem in major surgery, but do sometimes get reactions to insertion of needles or once with a bloody abscess drain.

I really wouldn't worry about this. You will learn to get over it if you have to.

Reply 5

kingcoltzan

9

Original post by nexttime

Firstly, those conditions are very prone to fainting, relatively speaking. Warmth makes people faint - the combination of dehydration and the blood moving to the periphery strain the circulation more than usual. Secondly, i personally find minor surgery far more ... stressful... than major surgery. Minor surgery emphasizes the human side, if that makes any sense. The patient may be speaking and engaging with you etc. This compares with major surgery, where the sedate patient is usually covered up and becomes more of a surgical specimen than a real person. I have never had any problem in major surgery, but do sometimes get reactions to insertion of needles or once with a bloody abscess drain.

I really wouldn't worry about this. You will learn to get over it if you have to.

This is what I think had it for me :biggrin:

The fact I couldn't see his face, but I could hear his voice, while his old man was being stiched up :biggrin:

Major surgery they feel less human - especially if they stop the heart :biggrin:

Reply 6

chrisjar

I wouldn't worry, I think most people go through it to a certain extent. I used to get it a little during dissections but now (finishing my biology degree and having done a lot of med work ex) I'm totally fine with it.

A doctor I was shadowing in cardiology told me a crazy story about one medical student he had who fainted: he was stood watching a coronary catheterisation and as blood arced out of the radial artery he fainted straight backwards and hit the concrete floor head first, out cold and having to then have his head x-rayed and sutured... But even he got over it so I'm sure you'll be fine!

Reply 7

battycatlady

13

Original post by flying high

Hi

I'm (hopefully) a future medic and though I've known I want to be a doctor for a couple of years now, I knew I DEFINITELY wanted to be one after doing some work experience. Today tho I was in the GP and the doctor was doing a minor op of removing a toenail and I fainted. I don't know for sure what caused the fainting tho because it was VERY warm in the room and I had been standing up for a long time but also I don't mind blood and it wasnt until he pulled the nail off that I fainted.
It scared me because I started thinking maybe it was the surgery and then what would I be like in major surgery..Can anyone tell me if fainting is normal and you get used to it?

Thanks :smile:

Don't worry. Most people who watch surgery probably faint at least once. I want to be a vet and i've watched various surgical things, but once I nearly passed out when the vet was having trouble drawing blood from the neck, but since then i've been just fine :smile:

And let's face it, toenails are pretty gross haha. Anyway, it was probably just a combination of the kinda gross op and the stuff room. Nothing to worry about!

Reply 8

Superlogon

Just imagine the thing as an inamnate object. Like taking a paper clip off a piece of paper. Worked for me at the vets. When they operated i just imagined it as opening a parcel. No more fainting :smile:

Reply 9

chrisjar

Original post by Superlogon

Just imagine the thing as an inamnate object. Like taking a paper clip off a piece of paper. Worked for me at the vets. When they operated i just imagined it as opening a parcel. No more fainting :smile:

I agree, I actually focus on seeing it as just a technical, scientific procedure and I got over it then.

Reply 10

Elwyn

17

When I was observing a laryngectomy, the surgeon told me I was the only person on work experience he had seen that week who hadn't fainted. He'd seen quite a few too because they had this workshop thing going on. So it's nothing to worry about.

Reply 11

Magendie

7

One of my colleagues face-palmed a patient in the cath lab, just after he started arresting on the table.

Patient survived. He on the other hand had to go to A&E for stitches.

Reply 12

RollerBall

20

Original post by bloody_student

One of my colleagues face-palmed a patient in the cath lab, just after he started arresting on the table.

Patient survived. He on the other hand had to go to A&E for stitches.

Wait, what? He facepalmed so hard at an arresting patient he had to have stitches in his hand?

Well, I'm impressed.

Reply 13

Lamptastic

14

On my FIRST volunteering session on a geriatric ward I was standing up talking to patients/buying them lil bits and pieces and when speaking to one particularly interesting fellow I almost fainted. He saw me go very white whilst regaling a war time story and he offered me a seat and some of the chocolate bar I just bought him.

Lame. So very lame. He was a lovely man. :h:

Don't worry we are only human after all.

Reply 14

colabottles

1

It's more than likely the fact that it's pain you can relate to. For example if you're standing there watching a heart being prodded about, you'll probably be fine because you don't know what it feels like to have your heart prodded. But when you see a toenail being removed, that's something you're familiar with and could imagine how much it hurts, how it feels etc.

Embarrassing but when I was watching Jackass once I was good watching all the fireworks up the arse etc but then I felt all faint when they were giving each other paper cuts :eek:

So it's possibly a mixture of that and the humidity etc :smile:

Reply 15

no.name

hey don't worry about it! I fainted at work experience too after seeing a minor surgery. Then I went and watched cardiothoracic surgery, blood everywhere etc and it was fine :smile:

It was probably the room... :smile:

Reply 16

Magendie

7

Original post by RollerBall

Wait, what? He facepalmed so hard at an arresting patient he had to have stitches in his hand?

Well, I'm impressed.

I meant head butt, and stitches on his head.

Face-palm usage fail :colondollar:

Reply 17

Kingbradley6

13

I also fainted during my work experience just seeing a minor op. It may well have been I only had a small breakfast and I was quite hot. However I have very low blood pressure which certainly doesn't help things. Will find out in time if I get over it I guess lol.

Reply 18

magichearts

7

It's normal to faint - especially when you're in a hot stuffy room. It hasn't happened to me yet...but I've always heard from surgeons that it happens to EVERYONE. Just make sure you don't faint on to the patient or on the sterile carts. Make sure you stay hydrated and keep your legs moving. If you need to, sit down for a bit. The surgeon/doctor isn't going to take it personal. Think they would much rather you take a seat than pass out.