Degree of manual dexterity required for different specialities

[ahawke100]

Hi everyone

I'll be starting medical school later this year and was interested in hearing which specialities utilize a decent degree of manual dexterity in practice. For example, how much manual dexterity is required in fields such as EM, derm, and anesthesiology?

The reason I ask is because I can tend to be on the clumsy side from time to time, and while my coordination doesn't really pose a 'problem,' it would prevent me from ever trying to go into a field such as plastics, for example, where the aesthetics of the final result were of extreme importance.

I'm currently most interested in psych, but the other fields listed above are of potential interest, and I'm wondering how having slightly below average coordination would hinder my ability to excel in one of those fields.

What're the thoughts?

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[costales]

If you can tie your shoelaces and button your shirt collar without poking yourself in the eye, you should be okay. Well, I assume you can incise, inject and suture. Try it on something from your fridge - chicken breasts, pig's feet, grapes, bananas, etc.

 

[Stagg737]

Agree with the above, though if you're that worried about it you might want to avoid ophtho. I'd probably want to avoid an ophtho surgeon that described themselves as clumsy...

 

[deleted564680]

Avoid ophtho, CT surgery, ENT, neurosurgery, plastics, interventional rads, interventional cards, vascular surgery, general surgery....lol

Basically, if you're really that terribly clumsy then avoid all procedure-based fields. I've seen many students and residents who became "adequate" surgeons but would never been good because of poor hand-eye skills or fine motor skills.

 

[costales]

And urology.

 

[ahawke100]

Haha thanks for all of the input. I'm mean I'm not extremely clumsy, but I'll definitely be avoiding anything with the word "surgery" involved.

Would poor(er) hand-eye skills really limit me if I were looking into anestheloigy or EM?

 

[Mad Jack]

And urology.

I really don't want someone with shaky hands and a tendency to miss by a millimeter or two playing around down there with sharp instruments, and I don't think anyone else does either.

 

[Mad Jack]

Haha thanks for all of the input. I'm mean I'm not extremely clumsy, but I'll definitely be avoiding anything with the word "surgery" involved.

Would poor(er) hand-eye skills really limit me if I were looking into anestheloigy or EM?

A lot of minor procedures, such as intubation, and moderately invasive procedures, such as spinal epidurals, are more about muscle memory and practice than they are about hand-eye coordination. To give you an idea, I have a terrible essential tremor and I was one of the best people in the hospital when it came to getting hard-to-get ABGs, simply because I had a feel for it and had done them so many damn times.

Now, something like microsurgery- I'd never trust myself to do that. Even suturing is difficult, but I'm getting better at it with practice. Could probably decently suture up a wound right now, but I want to get better than just decent for the sake of my patients. EM and anesthesia though, I think you'd be fine- I certainly think I would, as I haven't come across any procedures where fine motor skills seem to be the insurmountable obstacle in regard to their use in either field.