BACKGROUND: Left-handedness has been considered a simple inconvenience by some or something as convoluted as "the sinister," the Latin word for the left, by others. One in ten medical personnel is left-handed. The perceptions of left-handed surgeons regarding their laterality related inconveniences are unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine the perceptions of left-handed surgeons and the way it has affected their surgical training and career. DESIGN AND SETTING: Web-based survey of left-handed surgeons. PARTICIPANTS: Left-handed surgeons in 2 boroughs of New York City, Manhattan and Brooklyn. METHODS: Distribution and completion of the survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Career-oriented concerns of left-handed surgeons. RESULTS: Three percent of left-handed surgeons received laterality related mentoring during medical school. Ten percent of the programs mentored left-handed surgical residents, and 13% of the programs provided left-handed instruments during surgical residency. Laparoscopy and laparoscopic instruments did not eliminate the problems associated with instrument handling to left-handed surgeons. Ten percent of the left-handed surgeons expressed concerns when asked whether they would be comfortable being treated by another left-handed surgeon when they are the patients themselves. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals the perceptions of left-handed surgeons in adapting to a right-handed world. Early laterality related mentoring in medical school and during surgical residency with provision of left-handed instruments might reduce the inconveniences of left-handed surgeons learning.
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