When Passion Meets Reality What happens when you mess up a math problem? It’s simple, you just erase your mistake and try again. What happens when you mess up something which determines life or death?
The patient dies, you do not get a second chance, you have seconds to do scene size up and determine and treat the life threatening problems. In a matter of weeks, I have been trained to think on my feet and try my best to figure out life threatening problems, before being thrown out in real world situations. The good thing about being in the medical field is, that it is called practicing medicine. We practice until we cannot get it wrong, not until we get it right.
Being a senior in high school and taking an EMT class is hard, but I have learned that many other teens around the United States are doing the exact same thing. At Cienega High School teenagers are doing the same class as I am. Seventeen year olds are learning how to be emergency medical technicians. The program leader says that the students are learning things to make them good EMT’s, but we are also teaching the students important life skills (Huicochea, Alexis.) My instructor is also teaching us how to be good EMT’s, but we are also learning important life skills. At Delavan-Darien High School, administration were considering creating an EMT course for students to take. The
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new class would also offer other students from neighboring schools to come learn (Idzerda, Catherine W.) I take my class at Cape Career and Technology Center, while Woodland is my home school, CTC allows me to travel there and take the EMT class offered. Colton Sloan from Havelock High School was able to tour air evac, just like I was able to through the EMT class. He is like me, he wants to pursue a career in the medical field. He has considered becoming an ER physician, which is the type of physician, I would like to be someday (Wilson, Drew C.) I did not realize that there are other kids like me, trying to find their place in the medical field and make a difference. While taking three college classes and a Spanish two class, I am taking steps towards my love of medicine. As a senior, I am taking the Emergency Medical Technician course, which involves clinicals and hard tests including both national practical's and a written exam. The questions I started this essay with are exactly what my instructor asked me at my interview. It was a difficult process to be allowed into the EMT program, only thirteen of us were accepted in. The instructor sat us down, one by one to determine if we could handle the stress and visuals that came with the job. Luckily, I passed, even though I had my doubts about me getting in. As I started my journey into the medical field, I had my worries that I would not like it. If that was the case, I was in trouble because I had no other back up plan, my entire life was built on the idea that I would have a career in the medical field and nowhere else. Now that I have been in the course for about two months and experienced real world situations, I realized that the medical field was a perfect match for me. I excel in my EMT class and try to do my best to learn more so that I can save more lives. The past few weeks have been filled with learning how to do procedures, which I never thought would be that hard but it really is the hardest thing to do. I practice more than what is asked, mostly because when faced with that task in a real world situation, I do not want to draw a blank or even worse freak out. I want to always improve on my skills because you can always do better. My instructor is in my opinion one of the best teachers around, he makes sure we learn how to do everything, but also understand that we can not save every patient. When I first thought about the medical field, I had the unrealistic idea that I could save everybody. I now understand that I cannot, first I do not have the skills and knowledge and second some people are just meant to pass away. I am very restricted in what I can do as an EMT, honestly I cannot do much legally. The saying paramedics save lives and EMT's save paramedics is very true. Paramedics get to have all the fun, in my opinion, but they get so caught up in what all they can do, they forget to prioritize the patient as a stay and play or a load and go. As an EMT, it's my job to remind the paramedic that we are not definitive care but just the people who stabilize the patient and get them to the hospital where they will be able to do tests and find an answer to the problem. Just recently, I have thought about becoming a paramedic and then becoming a flight paramedic.
With me taking the EMT class as a senior in highschool, I can go right into paramedic school with a special grant, instead paying the seven thousand dollars for the class. My original plan was much bigger and came with a much bigger title, which was Dr. Long. The reason I took the EMT class was to get a first hand look into the emergency medical side because that’s the kind of physician I would like to be. My goal in life was to never be stuck in an office doing the exact same thing every day, but with being an emergency room physician, I will have different patients with new and exciting stories every day. I plan on sticking with my original plan, but I realize it is a good idea to have a backup
plan. No matter what career I choose in the medical field, I will always need to learn and do more. I do know that I will have an exciting job, that will never be same on a day to day basis. Though I doubt that I specialize in a certain area of medicine, I believe that whatever I choose will be something I love. Medicine has turned out to be my passion and something that I excel in. Maybe, I will stay in southeast Missouri and become a flight paramedic or I will leave and become an emergency room physician. Either way, I will have to work under pressure and use the skills I gained from my first insight into medicine. My EMT class has motivated me more to become a great health care provider and realize that it is not as easy at it appears.
The roles and responsibilities of an EMT is to be on time to the job and have a positive attitude when you come to work. EMTs work with different, that have very different attitudes and people sometimes aren’t that nice in the ambulance and sometimes, if not most of the time, can or are very rude so I have to be ready to deal with all types of people while I’m on the job. EMTs have to know what type of care to give the victim weather it is giving an IV or simply taking blood. They have to know all these things.
Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. Some of the best lessons in life are learned from making a mistake. But in the healthcare world making mistakes means losing lives. This has started to happen so frequently there has been a term coined – Failure to Rescue or FTR. Failure to rescue is a situation in which a patient was starting to deteriorate and it wasn’t noticed or it wasn’t properly addressed and the patient dies. The idea is that doctors or nurses could’ve had the opportunity to save the life of the patient but because of a variety of reasons, didn’t. This paper discusses the concept of FTR, describes ways to prevent it from happening; especially in relation to strokes or cerebrovascular accidents, and discusses the nursing implications involved in all of these factors.
Today’s clinical experience truly affected me in multiple ways. I went into this day with an open mind, and was pleased with the patients and the way I was able to conduct myself. This clinical affected me because throughout the day I felt that I experienced many emotions. A few times during my day I did have to fight back tears. I felt I had this emotion because some of the individuals expressed how they wanted to get better in order to get home to their families.
My lifetime goal is helping others and I plan to use my career to fulfill it. The classes I’m taking right now and the ones I’m planning to take senior year are classes I believe will influence my decision in my college major/career as well as counting toward my GPA. This will help me get into schools who have medical programs that I’m considering. Also, taking AP classes can help me save money since I can earn college credit. I’m taking all AP classes, and the electives I’m taking have been classes that have helped me consider being in the medical field. I’ve found that over the years, science and math are what I’m doing better in versus history and english. I believe by being in the medical field, I can help others in the best way I can.
Ever since I was younger, I wanted to get into the medical field. Both my grandmothers used to work in the hospital and I would always wanted to tag along. Following them to work influenced my decision to work in a hospital. Every time I tag along, I would see many interesting things that would catch my attention and make me curious. There was a lot of materials such as the stethoscope, weighing machine, and etcetera that I would pretend to be a doctor or nurse examining imaginary people. It was absolutely perfect because I always wanted to help people. So this fall of 2014, I will be starting my education on becoming a nurse anesthetist.
... a patient down when they are scared. I know this career will not always be an easy one because you will come across some patients that can be combative, grumpy or scared and being able to learn how to communicate with them will make the process more smoothly. There will come a time when you come across a patient that will pull at your heart, as hard as it is I will have to keep my emotions in control but not so much so that I forget how to be gentle and caring with the patients because you may never know what their stories are.
That was an experience I was not expecting. It gave me the opportunity to realize patient care continues after death. For example, I had to help close the patient's eyes and crossed her arms before rigor mortis sets in. Rigor mortis can occur as soon as thirty minutes after death so it is important in a nursing home setting that patient care is given before transport. I never thought of treating patients after death before this experience. Another experience that I encountered at Clinicals was a woman that normally could walk on her own, but had fallen trying to get her remote. In this situation Certified Nursing Assistants have to report an accident to the Registered Nurse on duty. The Nurse then assessed the patient and asked her a series of questions. The nurse then asked me to get a full set of vitals, which includes: blood pressure, pulse, respirations, temperature, and then monitor for the next seventy-two hours. Fortunately, the woman did not injure herself and was able to make a full recovery.
Naturally you'd hope and expect the hospital to have enough resources to facilitate the return to health, or to prolong their lives,
I took several general elective courses to explore different majors. My interest for the healthcare field started to grow when I took some of the health education classes, such as Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Nutrition, and Disease Prevention. In only five years, I was able to earn my bachelor degree in Health Science - Community Health Education (CHE). Although my bachelor’s degree is in another discipline, I have completed all the prerequisites and am ready to transition into the nursing profession. Growing up I have never thought I would be passionate about becoming a public health nurse. I was terrified of standardized tests, ran away from Math, and doubted people that would tell me how much academic and leadership potential I possessed. After seeing how sick my parents were, I am determined to become a Public Health Nurse to make a difference in the lives of those who cannot afford
Although students were not allowed in the recovery unit, I was able to talk to one of the recovery nurses. I learned that a nurse’s duty of care includes monitoring the patient’s vital signs and level of consciousness, and maintaining airway patency. Assessing pain and the effectiveness of pain management is also necessary. Once patients are transferred to the surgical ward, the goal is to assist in the recovery process, as well as providing referral details and education on care required when the patient returns home (Hamlin, 2010).
Since starting this class, introduction to health care, I have begun to think about what the future holds for me and what I will pursue with my college degree. At this point in time my career goal is to become a physician assistant in orthopedic surgery. I plan on working in a hospital setting where I can continue to learn and practice my profession. Five years after all my schooling and achieving my license, professionally I see myself working at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, New York, which is a teaching hospital. I would be working on and with patients, while still learning as I practice my previous knowledge. I would be seeing patients with injuries such as an ankle sprain, evaluating x-rays, and possibly sitting on and
Certainly, I began with the goal getting of his vital sign and giving him a bed bath. Fortunately I had practice how to take a vital sign and giving a bed bath before my first clinical at the university skill lab and I had developed this confidence before my clinical tour. That day will be mastering the skill which I had just learned in manikins, and applying in real human with huge safety precaution. In between morning my instructor was giving me a brief before I getting to the patients room. From her experience she knew what kind of challenges and a patient behavior can be I face. As I proceeded to my own patient, I hit a roadblock that would give me a flat tire for the rest of the shift.
It requires a great deal of strength, not only physically but emotionally as well. There is a great deal of physical work involved, such as lifting patients and equipment. You are on your feet most of of the day, and there is little patience for idle hands. Patients will often require much patience, and excellent people skills are a must. There will also be situations that will pull on the heart strings, however, we are there to do a job, and to do it to the greatest of our ability. Yes, I was aware of most of these requirements, but I don’t believe that I understood them to the fullest detail, and I probably won’t, unless I experience them first-hand. Fortunately, now, I have been educated on expecting such circumstances, and will be better equipped to handle them when such situations
Last breath. Gone forever. Nature takes its course. Death is inevitable for everyone. The thought becomes unnerving when one takes time to think that eventually it will happen to them. Younger adults and children tend to blow it off, thinking that because they are young, it won’t happen to them. Dying is certain, but the timing is not. As people become older, the fear of dying in this death denying culture becomes more prominent in their thought. However, what if illness and death become sooner than we thought or they were unprepared for what was to come? People want to leave Earth as peacefully and painlessly as possible. If the patient is at the point in their life that they need medical equipment to sustain life to keep organs running while spending thousands of dollars of burden to their family, then what actually is their quality of life? This is a continually rising ethical concern in the medical field. It’s a matter of sustaining life in hopes that a patient will recover versus “giving up” and letting the patient die naturally and faster. This becomes even more challenging when the actual patient is unable to say their wishes and the literal life-or-death question is at hand of a loved one watching their friend or family member be kept alive from machines. Culture today seems to be too optimistic regarding death. We are so afraid of dying that we have no choice but to be a culture of life. Today’s American society is a death denying culture that cannot determine when it is the correct time to finally let go.
I went to the operating room on March 23, 2016 for the Wilkes Community College Nursing Class of 2017 for observation. Another student and I were assigned to this unit from 7:30am-2:00pm. When we got their we changed into the operating room scrubs, placed a bonnet on our heads and placed booties over our shoes. I got to observe three different surgeries, two laparoscopic shoulder surgeries and one ankle surgery. While cleaning the surgical room for the next surgery, I got to communicate with the nurses and surgical team they explained the flow and equipment that was used in the operating room.