Job in Medical Field w/o People Skills

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What kind of job in the medical field does not involving have a lot of people skills? By people skills I mean lots of socialization. I hear there will be higher demand for people in the medical field in the US. That's why I'll probably choose a medical major.

biomedical research sciientists. In the UK, there are undergrad courses called biomedical science. You learn pretty much similar things as medicine without dissection, etc. Then you work in hospital labs and basically labs. It helps of course to do at least a Masters.

medical billing, I hope.

Become a lab technician. This is the person who sits at the microscope, identifies and counts the cells. It is removed from the patients. You will need to still speak to your supervisor and co-workers - but not as much as other professions in the medical profession (such as long term care nursing where we are constantly talking to our Residents and other staff members...)

Medical Doctor.

My doctor has AS. She's great.

You don't really have to socialize, just do the exam, listen to the symptoms, and try to figure out what's wrong.

If you really don't want to deal with people, you can be a pathologist or medical examiner.

Nurses and pediatricians require the most people skills I think.

I don't know if it's really true, but I've heard to surgeons can get away with less social ability because 1) their patients are usually unconscious, 2) people only care if they're good at the surgery part, and will let more things slide because of that.

Definitely, for a lot of them that's the case.

Radiologists and anaesthetists also don't require too much patient contact.

Don't be a general physician; half the patients are in for social reasons and you need to be good at small talk etc.. (although, that said, once you've mastered the basics, there's no reason you couldn't do it)

Also, bear in mind that it's at least 5 years of medical school, during which you need to have some social skills (or learn them fast) or you won't get through the exams. In the past, a lot of it was theory, but there's a hige drive towards clinical and social skills these days.

Radiology and Nuclear medicine require some level of social skills but a lot of it you are working from a basic script. Pharmacology is similar but maybe a bit less so depending on exactly where you work. If I was a young man today I would go into histology. You can start working with a Master's and be making pretty decent money. Ultimately you need a PhD but you don't go to med school. It is an ideal, and growing field for an Aspie because you specialize in one or two organs and spend most of your time in the lab analyzing tissue samples.

Wow a doctor with AS. First time I ever heard of that. I wonder how she copes. You do need to socialize a bit. Most doctors tend to do so.

I was actually thinking about something to do with medicine or chemistry. Any suggestions? I'll take a guess and say that'll lead me to being a Pharmacist?

Pharmacist is a bad idea for someone with poor social skills. The people behind the pharmacy counter at drug stores and hospitals are all pharmacists and pharm techs. Pharmacists are the ones in charge, so they have to step in to resolve any issues that the Pharm Techs might be having, such as a particularly tough customer.

Pharmacists also have to deal with a lot of confused and misinformed people who don't know what's good for them. Part of the job is customer service.

Being someone on the research side of drugs and whatnot would be better if you don't want to deal with customers.

Hello,

The above seem like good ideas, especially given what's likely to happen to the medical field over the next few years. Even in the recent past, medical openings have seemed to be relatively plentiful.

(During the 2001 recession, I observed that medical job ads seemed to be going strong - along with security, driving and sales jobs. For that matter, certain security and driving positions pose few social demands, and on the other hand some Aspie extroverts - including yours truly - have done well with sales.)

Now, if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind the social contact but simply has trouble staying polite, IME some doctors' offices can be good places to work. I've observed that - in the private sector - a significant proportion of the customer-service challenged people work in medical practices.

That may have something to do with the fact that the "customers" - the patients - often don't choose which doctors to deal with, and they aren't paying even close to the full price. So some medical professionals seem to care much less about alienating them than most businesses do about alienating ordinary customers.

(That said, you would still be well-advised to get along with your co-workers at least.)

Cheers,

Veternary technican?

Pharmacologist. Less competitive than Pharmacy and you get to understand the chemistry in detail. More scientist-like and less social.

I'm and emergency doctor and I'm an Aspie.

I was only diagnosed recently, and I've given a lot of thought to how I manage in a pressured environment dealing with a lot of people, both colleagues and strangers. Here's a few things to consider:

Medicine is good because it works on the apprenticeship model. When you're a student you frequently simply observe doctors interacting with patients. This gives lots of opportunity to mirror - pick the patterns of speech and behaviour that seem to work, and copy them.

You get a lot of instruction, like making eye contact with patients when you intruduce yourself. I still can't shake hands, unless the patient actually reaches out to me first, when I've learned to respond appropriately, but I give my name, smile, look at them for a few seconds, and then just remind myself to glance back at them every so often. Most patients seem quite happy with this, and the more you practice it, the easier it gets. making eye contact when you have a defined role is also easier - you both know the rules, so there's less anxiety.

You can ask people stuff you'd never ask in a social situation. I was surprised when I was in GP/family med for a while and all the depressed people started coming to me. I think it was because I've been depressed, as most Aspies have, pluys I would ask them 'are you depressed? How do you feel about yourself? what's going on at work/home? etc. I can't rely on the nonverbal stuff, and the discovery that people actually want to be asked these questions, want the space to tell you what's going on, was great. Because you're a doc, you don't have to hug them and be empathetic, you just have to be sympathetic, which is much easier.

It gives you space to test things out. Sometimes, when caring for someone really sick, if there was a pause while we waited for results, or something like that, I would put my hand on theirs. A lot of people, especially the old folks, immediately gripped my hand back. It was a bit alarming at first, but now I like doing it. I don't get any physical contact with anyone in my personal life, and so this occasional contact with patients has actually become quite important to me.

there's lots of opportunity to practise interacting with people as a medical student. You likely won't see these poeple again, and you're there to train, so there's less anxiety (for me at least) about each eisode. It's not like socialising at all.

Finally, I do think some aspects of the aloneness of being an Aspie are dangerous. I don't have a supportive family and most people don't 'get' me, so I spend my time away from work alone. Being surrounded by colleagues in the emergency department, being able to chat about complex cases, fool around a bit, and teach junior staff gives me the human interaction I need. I do think that picking a job that enables you to lock yourself away from other people isn't a good idea. Some aspects of HFA do get easier as you get more experienced at interacting with people. I can chat, now, and although I know people still see me as weird, I've worked in the same place for a number of years so I can look most of my colleagues in the eye, and I've even told a few of them I'm Aspie.

Feel free to ask me anything about being an aspie doctor...

Except when you open them up, and they've got disseminated cancer, and you know that in a few hours you'll have to sit with them and their relatives and explain what you found, and what it means, and what can be done about it.

Surgeons don't just operate, they have to do clinics where they see people both before and after their ops, they have to do ward rounds etc, present cases at meetings, teach junior staff...

It's all do-able, I think, for a motivated Aspie, but you can't just spend all day with a knife in your hand.

veternarian