Question for Medical Doctors/Nurses/ Medicine pupils: How can you stand BLOOD?

That's something you REALLY should get over if you are serious about becoming a physician. Perhaps physiotherapy is an alternative. I'm not thinking about a medical career, but I know I have no problem seeing blood, gore or dead people. Some people are naturally fairly unaffected by it (like me), while others invariably faint. I don't have any tips on overcoming it though, since I've never had to. Perhaps it helps to try and be exposed to blood more often, so you get used to it.

You might ask an auto mechanic how he can possibly stand the sight of grease?  And how can he stand getting his hands covered in it?  It's just a part of the occupation.  You lose your fear of blood after you learn exactly what's in it, what it does, and you work around it 12 hours per day.  It's nothing to fear (unless it's gushing out of YOUR body).  And it IS part of medicine or nursing.  Millions of people ahead of you have become accustomed to working around blood, and they aren't bothered.  You will get there, too, faster than you think.

Blood doesn't bother me a bit, and never has.  I can watch my own blood being drawn, and I also watched the suction canister fill up with my blood while I was having surgery (under spinal anesthetic with no sedation). They eventually covered it so I couldn't see - hahaha.

Other people's blood only bothers me in that I have to do something about keeping them alive, like increase their fluids or transfuse them.  Blood has a unique smell, too, when there is a lot of it around.

I try to avoid dead people.  My whole job is to avoid having death occur.  But the corpses I've seen don't bother me either.  The absolute weirdest thing is to do an organ harvest, where we have to keep the organs perfused, and once they're out, we just turn off the drugs, fluids and ventilator and walk away.  It feels wrong, even though the patient was dead going into the OR.

1] most people are uncomfortable around blood, but not queasy
2] no
3] only if I have really low blood sugar [ gotta eat breakfast before work ]
4] you will handle a LOT of blood in med school - can't be a doctor without that
PS: it didn't even bother me when I heard it pouring on the floor when I delivered my son
[ postpartum hemorrhage ] because I knew all the staff and trusted them

I don't feel queasy seeing it. I just hope I can stop having it gushing after a baby is born or a skin laceration so that I can suture it faster though. For some reason I love the sensation of touching loquia from a uterus.

I only feel more aware of blood if I know the patient is HIV or Hepatitis C positive and for obvious reasons I don't want to prick my finger with contaminated blood.