Hi all! I hope I am posting this in the right place. I am a medical student and have been studying/working in the medical field for roughly 5 years now. I've never thought myself to be a queasy person around blood or wounds. I started off as a nursing student and regularly did wound care and whatnot but never really interacted with surgery/suturing. Still, when I saw pictures of wounds and surgeries, I had no problem with them whatsoever. I have been doing an extended Emergency rotation this summer and have seen all sorts of things without much issue at all (including a case with extensive 3rd degree burns across 90% of a patient's body). I draw blood all the time and assist with lots of things. But a few weeks ago we had a pretty nasty facial injury that required extensive stitching and I was sent in to assist for it as there wasn't enough staff on the night shift. Without getting into too many details, I ended up nearly fainting and I would have lost my conscience had the nurses not seen me and sent me to lay down on a bed, where I proceeded to lose sight and hearing for a few seconds. I ended up jumping back in to help albeit not watching the procedure as intensely as before. (By that point more people had scrubbed in and all I had to do was hold a light at the right angle) The problem is that ever since then I have been feeling a bit sick at the thought of wounds and even seeing some surgical photos makes me a bit queasy. I was very panicked the next time I went in for my rotation but didn't have any other episodes like that one. I genuinely feel like I'm giving myself a phobia of wounds or something, and I'm curious if other people have experienced the same thing and have overcome it through more experience? It's most ironic because I am seriously considering EM for my residency but I'm afraid I won't be able to get over this fear of fainting again if I see something crazy. I am also beginning rotations on the surgical wards this semester (plastic, general and orthopedics each week) and the professors are always suggesting we come in to watch surgeries and learn more and I would love to see it but I'm so afraid of the fainting spell repeating. Any advice or experiences are appreciated, and thanks for reading!!   submitted by   /u/Material-Apricot2 [link]   [comments]