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Any left-handed PA-C's or PA-S currently in clinicals on this board?


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I haven't found any threads on this and it may be irrelevant, however does anyone have any tips for someone who is left-handed going into certain procedures or things I may need to modify during my clinical rotations as a PA student or in professional practice?

 

This may seem silly but since many tools (like scissors for example) are made for right hand use only, I just want a heads up. I'm wondering if this may affect me in my ER and surgery rotations. I still have an entire year before I start my clinical component but want to be prepared.

 

And, if you ARE left-handed, is there anything you found regarding procedures particularly difficult to learn from someone who is right-handed? I think that watching techniques of right-handed people might be harder to understand/master, since the angle and direction of movement are different (just like a child trying to learn how to write certain letters from a right-handed teacher).

 

Thanks!

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I'm not lefty but form a surgical perspective it should not be too difficult. The real trick is sewing. When you are closing a wound with someone across the table, two righties sew R->L. You will want to practice ssewing in that direction.

 

There are several things in the OR that I have learned to do ambidextrously just because my dominant hand is not always free, or it's simply easier. As a surgical assistant it will be to your benefit to, at a minimum, be able to cut and tie (one hand and two hand) each way.

 

Procedures should be no problem.

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I'm left-handed so i understand your concern. I would recommend learning procedures right-handed right off the bat. You're going to be clumsy in the beginning anyways, mind as well learn it the way it is taught. Later on once you are comfortable with the mechanism of it, then switch to left hand...then you will be able to do it with both hands. I practice doing my suturing and tying with both hands and it's actually easier than i thought.

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As a leftie, I think that we have an advantage when it comes to intubation. I like using my strong hand to hold the blade, and then place the tube with my right. Suturing can be a little difficult when you are learning from right-handed teachers. One of the surgeons on my surgery rotation made me do everything right-handed in the OR; he as a leftie himself and said that the OR nurses were used to handing instruments to the right hand, so I should learn to adapt. One problem I've found is that when suturing with a cheaper suture tray the thread tends to get hooked up on the hinge of the needle driver (not a problem for my rightie friends). To compensate I have to use one of our nicer plastics trays for doing all of my suturing; the instruments are much better made, and there are no problems with getting the suture caught.

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Lefty here. I haven't really noticed any easily adaptable problems. Clamps always hinge and catch backwards but with a bit of practice, like 2 minutes it's easy to open them. People assisting only need once to learn you are left handed. I have always heard comments like "use your other right hand". Any mechanical instruments that involves threads that are set up for right handers, I'll use "righty tighty, lefty loosy" to figure out which way to turn the nut or wrench, unless the are reverse threads like some gas machines have.

 

I've had browndogs problem too. Especially with 6/0 stuff.

 

I seem to have an easier time putting a subclavian central line in from the right of the patient. Probably more to do with the gradual bend in the vein but the right always felt more comfortable than the patient's left.

 

Learning to fly a plane working the rudder with my feet in co-ordinated turns or correcting for wind drift and slips was harder for me than most right handers. My instructor would say right rudder, RIGHT RUDDER, OTHER RIGHT RUDDER, as we approached the ground.

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I seem to have an easier time putting a subclavian central line in from the right of the patient. Probably more to do with the gradual bend in the vein but the right always felt more comfortable than the patient's left.

 

The L SC has a more gradual turn into the SVC than the right......

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