Submitted 2022-10-23
It is really important that all of us in the health area are aware of the fundamental role we play in the quality of life of our patients. Many times it is forgotten that we do not treat diseases but sick people, that is why we must provide a respectful, warm, understanding, attentive treatment and above all we must know how to identify the needs, both physical and mental. But in order to enter this area we must not forget the basics of knowledge, because they will give us the way to guide us, either from identifying the main problem and more importantly to know how to reach a quick, clear and concise solution to this conflict. A clear example of all the above mentioned, is to have updated knowledge in the BLS/ALS courses because we will face situations that we must know how to deal with, since we are a key piece in the chain of survival either in an in-hospital or out-of-hospital environment. In both, we will be the key piece so that the patient is guaranteed to leave without any problems. However, the manuals give us really useful and objective information but in an outof-hospital environment many things can be complicated or altered from the theory that is why we must be able to adapt to the situation, either since the people around us do not cooperate or do not know how to help. That is why we, as health care personnel, have the obligation to be prepared and to be able to communicate what we have learned from each step and link in the chain to others in order to ensure effective care and all this based on solid knowledge that we will form with hard study and practice.
When I entered medical school eager to learn. I found myself with access to multiple sources of information from: Articles, atlases, journals and multiple books. At that time I felt overwhelmed, because I didn’t know where and where to start. Although over time I began to adapt to this accumulation of information as a medical student, I began to notice as did my other classmates that we first had to understand all the normal physiological processes of our body, however, some made the mistake of just “memorizing” and that is where the following year we would understand the difference as we would get to the clinical aspect.
In my second year of medicine and with the basics of “normal” in the body now we had to understand what happens if homeostasis is broken, alterations or diseases and not only that, I would begin in my course to read and study the BLS manuals. One of the links mentioned in the chain of survival is to give high quality CPR, for this it is necessary to be well informed regarding the procedure to be performed, a section of utmost importance in CPR are compressions, to perform them properly already with the knowledge previously acquired, it is also important to have adequate mental preparation, we must be able to think objectively, if many things can go wrong or multiple variables can occur while giving care, we must also not forget that we are attending to: the brother, sister, father, mother, grandfather, grandfather, son, granddaughter. Someone who is being waited for at home, we cannot allow emotions such as: anxiety, anguish and personal worries to invade us. We must never forget our mental health, if it is necessary to go to therapy we must receive it and be able to think clearly and only concentrate on what we have in front of us that will be the patient in addition to making the right decisions and fast, so we can keep the pace of compressions. A good example to achieve this could be meditation, which has helped me to clear everything that causes me anxiety and to be fully centered. The compressions require a strenuous physical effort and for this we must have the right physical condition to give full cycles of compressions as we really perform a high effort, so it would be appropriate that we all have a moderately trained body, with the physical capacity to withstand long working hours, either in a situation both in or out of hospital. I personally keep myself in shape with a healthy diet and go jogging every day because I am constantly on my feet for long hours either in the hospital or at school, and that allows me to be prepared to provide high quality care, fulfilling a personal triad, which is: updated knowledge and good source, optimal mental health and adequate physical condition. If we manage to have these three in balance, can we survive or be prepared for everything? In theory yes, but in practice it is another story.
Recently I was in an emergency room where I learned how the variables really affect us and we must adapt. Currently in my country there is a crisis of medical supplies in hospitals, we do not have all the tools, not even gloves or tools to take an EKG, but we should not stop, on the contrary, we must adapt, it is our obligation to find unexpected solutions that are in order to solve the problem of the patient from a superficial wound to the polytraumatized patient, maybe we can not always have at our disposal all the tools, but while we have the knowledge and all those nights and days we spend preparing for multiple situations could make the patient come out alive. Many times a simple thank you will be all we get, is it worth all the effort to overcome the difficulties? In my opinion if it is worth it, with this essay I want to at least make that student who today doubts his knowledge think again, you just need to resist. We all have difficulties and whoever gets the ACLS scholarship will have a support to give excellent care because it is what sometimes is simply required to save a life.