Aspies In The Medical Field

Post Reply New Topic

What do you do, and what are the pros and cons in relation to your AS?

I'm going to start school for Nursing soon.

I am retired, now, but I used to work as an Occupational Therapist. I hated it. The most problems came from co-workers, who had a problem with my then undiagnosed AS. The other problems came from sensory overload, and lack of ability to read subtle cues on the patients faces, such as was I tiring them, were they getting dizzy, etc.

I bet you would have liked working with kids with autism though. It's too bad you've retired now. I imagine that helping autistic kids with sensory integration and motor skills might be very fulfilling. Many autistic kids find OT very calming because of the sensory input involved.

I'm about to get my masters in speech therapy by the way, and I'm interning at a school for kids with autism. When one of my kids is overwhelmed or having a bad day, I'll often take them down to the OT gym to swing or jump on the trampoline.

I'm on a degree for Forensic Science, which naturally has strong links to a medical discipline. Seeing as Biology was my first Autistic obsession and it withstood the tests of time, being my main obsession now, my mind just syncronises with the material. I have the AS attention to detail which is already winning me marks on the crime scene mapping exercises. I often find myself working at a level well in advance of the other students. Don't get me wrong, the Neurotypicals are getting grades higher than mine, but Forensic Science is a subject about linking the science disciplines together at the scene of a crime, which I excel at. My superiors are capable of memorising scientific facts, and terrible at using them.

I have truly found my perfect career path, not only for myself, but for my Aspergers.

I am studying oncology (with an eventual specialty in pediatric oncology - rare solid tumors and leukemias).

Pros:
- special interest and passion
- people in classes are intelligent
- smaller classes
- repetitive tasks you can perfect on the job
- choose a specific field and you can always learn
- use AS memory
- use AS logic

Cons:
- interact a lot with patients
- a lot of emotions
- a lot of signals that are hard to read
- have to figure out how to say things and act around patients
- have to figure out how to say things and act around other professionals (doctors, nurses)
- establish a routine but it can be broken at any time
- new ways of doing things every so often as techniques or equipment change

I worked as an oncology nurse (with adult patients) for way too long. Have you done any kind of work in oncology? Tensions are high; there are a lot of family dynamics; there are a lot of "oh no, what am I supposed to say now?" times in that field. I can imagine it would be tenfold in pediatric oncology.

Here's my experience summed up as quickly as possible, after 11 years of nursing.
The cons: You have to relate to so many people and on a professional and therapeutic level - that is a difficult task. I find one on one interactions with a patient easiest, but add family members and it gets more complicated. Also you work with so many staff if you work in a hospital - way more than any other job because of all the disciplines and the need for shift workers so you never know who you're working with. One bad coworker can ruin your life.

I found the best experience while doing bedside nursing to be on-call. You have to do a year of acute care nursing (deal with it and get through it as best you can) then you can be on-call at one or more facilities. The benefits are huge - you don't work at any one place full time so they treat you much better. No office politics. The staff appreciate you when you're there.

Also after you've spent a year in acute care, then you can go anywhere and there are so many places you can go, which is where the nursing career has its biggest benefit for us. I learned through trial and error that I LOVE to both teach and do research, so a PhD is where I'm heading.

I'm a biomedical equipment tech. I basically repair and maintain medical/laboratory equipment.

Pros:
1. My patients are machines, not people.
2. While doing scheduled services, I can (usually) get away with putting headphones on and just doing my thing on my own.
3. Its technical, and I love technology.
4. I've always been a tinkerer since a kid, so fixing things has come natural to me. Even though I'm a musician at heart and that would be my dream job, this works well as I like making broken things work again.
5. Its fairly repetitive, so getting into a nice groove can be nice.
6. I work at a research facility with a lot of scientists and lab techs, many of whom I suspect are AS as well (can't deny the geek factor)

Cons:
1. Its a job; therefore, I have to answer to someone (I have 3 bosses). I'm also in charge of a few people.
2. I recently moved here, so everything is very new. Adjustment has been...difficult...
3. If I could do the same sort of thing all damn day, that'd be great (direct repair work instead of administrative work; or vice versa). But I have to move from one phase of my day to another, and that can be a problem (screws up my organization, makes me late, etc). For example, I know I shouldn't, but I go home for lunch sometimes (home is happier than work), and I have trouble leaving to go back to work!

You are so right. Just before my medical retirement, I was being considered for a position at an elementary school. The OT there needed help with her caseload of kids, but at the last minute, the administrators decided that they didn't have enough in their budget to pay me.
Oh, well, maybe it was for the best.

It sure is. And the stress is definitely pretty high.
However, it's what I'm interested in doing. I can't help it. I'm already thinking of ways to deal with the things that cause me trouble. I've been in these places and worked with these people and seen what I'm going to have to do and learn and compensate for. I think I have some workable ideas.

I'm still considering a branch of pediatric oncology without too much patient/family contact. That's an option that can be solved after completion of school.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that the families are generally very open and receptive. And they have two main concerns: 1) do you care, really care, about their child? beyond the cure, do you care? and 2) do you know their child's cancer? can you treat, observe, invent, whatever it takes?

Me! Not quite yet, but I'm studying natural medicine and nutrition. I haven't dealt with patients yet but I can't wait; all I want to do is help people. The info is interesting as it's my obsession so I'm breezing the little I've done so far.