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Handedness Effects on Procedural Training in Pediatrics

Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, djt2001{at}med.cornell.edu

John Rutledge, MAS

Department of Public Health, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York

Sharon Pan, MD, PhD

Division of Emergency Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Children' Hospital of New York, New York

Nicole Knotek, MD

Division of Emergency Medicine, Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, Ohio

Maria Ramundo, MD

Division of Emergency Medicine, Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, Ohio

Objective To determine handedness effects on procedural training.

Patients and Methods Pediatric trainees and attendings from 3 institutions participated in a Web-based survey examining whether handedness affected learning procedures, the hand used to perform procedures, and if handedness training was received.

Results and Conclusions Of 778 physicians, 39% completed surveys, and 11% wrote with their left hand. Learning procedures were affected in left-handed physicians (60% vs 7.7%; odds ratio [OR] = 17.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.9-40.1), and they used their non-dominant or both hands to perform procedures (48.6% vs 21%; OR = 3.6; 95% CI = 1.7-7.4). Few physicians received handedness training (20% vs 10.7%; P= .16). Left-handed physicians were affected learning lumbar puncture (29% vs 4%; OR= 10.0; 95% CI = 3.8-26.4), intubation (36% vs 5%; OR=11.0; 95% CI=4.4-27.4), and suturing (32% vs 4%; OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 4.5-30.5).

Key Words: dominant handedness • procedural training • resident training

This version was published on March 1, 2009

Clinical Pediatrics, Vol. 48, No. 2, 156-160 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0009922808323111


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