title: Left-handed surgeons: are they left out?
abstract: 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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the perceptions of left-handed surgeons and the way it has affected their surgical training and career.
  
  
  METHODS
  Web-based survey of left-handed surgeons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Left-handed surgeons in 2 boroughs of New York City, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
  
  
  METHODS
  Distribution and completion of the survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, USA. adusumip@mskcc.org
authors.forename: Prasad S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Adusumilli
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kell
authors.forename: Jae-Hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tuorto
authors.forename: I Michael
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Leitman
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D003625:Data Collection; D004501:Education, Medical; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013525:Surgical Instruments