I read somewhere that women have a tendency to confuse between right and left sides. I did not believe it, because women are far more accomplished than men are. Surely such a simple thing would not confuse them. I would not have tested this hypothesis out, but I was bored waiting for the next case to be induced. So I asked our resident doctors to show me their left hands. I was dumbfounded. 70% of those showed me their right hands without a moment's hesitation. When I explained why I had asked such a thing, they grinned. After coming home, I thought back to my childhood, and remembered a woman relative making a movement of putting food in her mouth to confirm which was her right hand before answering that question asked by someone else. I also recalled girls touching their right cheeks when someone told them that there was dirt on their left cheeks.
I would have still put this away as a joke. But I see diagrams of laparoscopy findings made by some women resident doctors. The view drawn is as seen. But they label right side as left and left as right. I remember them writing the fallopian tube on the right side was transected when actually the left tube is transected. I remember them percussing the left side of the patient's chest for liver dullness while describing the action as performed on the right side.
I know what I am saying here may not be statistically correct. Someone should conduct a randomized controlled study on an equal number of men and women to see if this hypothesis is correct. I cannot do it, because the only captive population I have for a study is medical students and resident doctors, and women outnumber men in both the groups.
I would have still put this away as a joke. But I see diagrams of laparoscopy findings made by some women resident doctors. The view drawn is as seen. But they label right side as left and left as right. I remember them writing the fallopian tube on the right side was transected when actually the left tube is transected. I remember them percussing the left side of the patient's chest for liver dullness while describing the action as performed on the right side.
I know what I am saying here may not be statistically correct. Someone should conduct a randomized controlled study on an equal number of men and women to see if this hypothesis is correct. I cannot do it, because the only captive population I have for a study is medical students and resident doctors, and women outnumber men in both the groups.
