Aspies For Freedom

Are there any aspies here who work as doctors, nurses or any other jobs in the medical profession?

I have always had a fascination for anything medical and have a desire to look after sick people and help them get better.  I have been thinking more and more lately that this sort of work might be my calling.  I have read up on some of the jobs I'm interested in and am aware of the poor pay, unsocial hours etc and have no problem with that, but my issues are to do with very low self confidence, being introverted and touching people.  I am a bit afraid to touch people but I think I could overcome this.  

I have no qualifications so will start off as a nursing assistant but I am also interested in training as a phlebotomist.

Oh, I forgot to mention if there are any folks out there working in this profession, then I would be grateful for any advice and to hear your experiences

phlebotomist might be ok if you can get good at getting the veins and taking blood without causing the patient too much discomfort.  My sister did medical technician and they practiced on oranges first and then other students.  They got placements in hospitals and the worst was one of her friends in a children's hospital because the kids scream if they are getting blood taken.  

I always thought that anyone in the health care field would have to have a good amount of natural empathy or empathic ability.  

I suppose it would be possible to have a job where you just take blood all day working in a medical centre or blood donation clinic.

Thanks for responding Korrigan and M, much appreciated

I've grown up with people who are constantly stressed so I think I can handle that in a working environment ( I hope ) and at least in a busy job there will be little in the way of social chit chat

I'm a very empathic person, only problem being I may have too much of the stuff.

I'm a nurse. First of all I went to classes to learn nurse aiding - I then volunteered for a few hours each week to learn practical skills in my own time. I am a lot slower at learning practical tasks, especially with other people around. I seem to struggle with planning and organising myself. I process the spoken word my slowly ( maybe related to anxiety).

I then did prehealth classes to see if I could cope with the study. This followed onto nursing school. Because of good academic achievement and the ability to express my thoughts in writing -they let me through.

For now I have been put off work due to difficulties - but it seems my work place want to support me and help to get back to work. They say I am a good nurse but ......

So - I have qualities that make me a good nurse and I have a passion for nursing --- but there are difficulties that create a need to work in a very supportive and caring workplace.

There was a time when I became really nervous just meeting my husband for coffee.
If you take things slow enough, you can get there. You just have to be determined.

Lucie, that is very helpful and interesting, thank you!   I too am a lot slower at learning practical tasks with other people around and have been worrying about that amongst other things.  I plan to take it slow like you said and see how I go.  

Thanks for the advice

Can I ask what branch of nursing you are in?

I work in aged care, dementia and palliative care.
This suits me as I not into chatter, (I think you made mention of this) I find having to make friendly conversation exhausting.

I like to provide comfort care - rather than seeking cure. And I like the sameness of this kind of work.
Having said all this - at the moment I am having to get a clearance from my doctor to continue to practice because of anxiety issues. Just another hitch, that I will get through - hopefully.

Good luck with that

When did you get diagnosed?

Do you live in the UK?

If you've *just* been fired, you should know that you can probably take your former employer to an employment tribunal on the grounds of disability discrimination.  There is a time limit, though, so you would need to seek advice asap.

"Under the [Disability Discrimination Act] DDA there are four types of discrimination:

direct discrimination
failure to make reasonable adjustments
disability related discrimination
victimisation

The DDA also makes it unlawful for employers to subject disabled employees to:

harassment

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/fo...ation.aspx
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/yo...ction.aspx

What is that old saying about "the blind leading the blind?"

Not sure what you mean by this response, Orange. It sounds as if you don't really care when you say w/e- what do you mean 'that's nice?' It's just not clear what you mean here. Perhaps you could clarify.

If you are going to be working in medicine/nursing-(and good luck with this if this is what you want to do)-it would be important to have correct information.   

Hello orangeismyaura,

The reason why diagnosis isn't made at birth is because there is no blood test or brain scan that would enable a diagnosis at birth.

Even at a later stage, usually when the child isn't failing to developmental milestones at the 'right age' around the time they're a toddler, the diagnosis still can't be confirmed by tests or scans.

The diagnosis is made by observing behaviour.  Obviously, with a new born baby only a few hours old, you're not going to be able to tell whether it's going to be able to gain some kind of eye contact, whether it's clumsy, whether it's speech is delayed etc.

The diagnosis is done later than birth because the symptoms 'present' later than birth.  This does not mean that the child is not born autistic.

Since autism is more prevalent in families where there is already an autistic family member, the assumption is that there is some kind of genetic component.  And such a child is born with autism (although at that age is too young to display symptoms involving communication problems, because at that age all they do is eat, sleep, cry and poop).  They don't develop autism later, they already are autistic.

As for that controversial ingredient in the vaccines that's been blamed for the 'rise' in autism cases?  It was banned in about 2001 in the US, so children being vaccinated since then won't have developed autism due to vaccine damage from Thimerosal.  And if children born and vaccinated since then are still being diagnosed with ASDs... ooh, it can't be because of Thimerosal.

there's no strife-really. It's actually a tiny  misunderstanding in the great scheme of things. I can relate to the way you went from this wee problem all the way up to resolving to be a better human - it reminds me of something I might say

The way you worded something was misunderstood-but you clarified what you meant and now everyone gets what you meant to say and what you mean. Misunderstandings happen-and then they get cleared up, hopefully.  No worries.

Nah-just a previous post. Her name hasn't been 'bluelined'  so it looks as if she is still here but she isn't.

I'm sorry to hear that, what an awful situation what kind of job in medicine did you have?