...and see what's on the slab."~ Frank N. Furter, The Rocky Horror Show
Some of my students have never had a "lab practical" before! It's time they did! Not scary, rather fun....
One of the things that is hard to teach--but I try!--is that students in the health professions are "crossing over" from being a layperson to having the right--nay, RESPONSIBILITY--to go places they have not gone before. This is difficult in some of the "grosser" areas of study....Being a clinical professional is not for the squeamish.
But most difficult of all is tearing down the wall of personal space--literally and figuratively--that is particularly high and thick in the West. Asking personal--VERY personal--questions and seeing people naked is NECESSARY to being effective. It's all in how it's done; respect and grace and consideration are required, but in the end we must go where we must in order to help our patients.
The "slab" is in fact quite large....
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