Submitted 2022-11-01
To begin this essay first I want to introduce myself, I am a mature student, in fact, this is my second career, my first one is Oceanology, and have to say that every day that I learned something new I reaffirm that it is such a privilege to be able to study medicine and help people and animals to fully recover, but before getting into the main purpose of this essay I want to provide a bit of context about myself, with the aim to get across more profoundly.
I am so in loved of life by itself, in all its shapes and colors. Also, I am aware that there’s a lot of mental illness such as depression, and sometimes the greatness of life seems to be hidden deep down somewhere… To me it helps to explain my love to life when I see death. Death is emotionless, there’s no pain, no happiness, no remorse, the game is over, death is cold, and even if you want to change something is impossible, no return. While in life we stay on the game, experiencing new things, getting annoyed, sad, happy, feeling pain, joy, etc, all that is part of life, and every part of it is a great privilege to experience it, and emergency care is that push to the warm, to life…
I am writing this essay thanks to emergency medical care, as I was hit by car while cycling nine years ago. I never fully recover my memory about how the accident happened. I remember myself cycling downhill in the motorway on my way home, and the next thing I remembered is being standing up on the road disorientated, in shock, repeating constantly that I had such a strong blow… then, I remember when the ambulance arrived, and they hold me, and I could release my muscles, I knew that I was not alone… “thanks’ god somebody else will look after me as I was unable to”. When they secured my neck, I remember saying thanks for being here, and I release and I lose my body again, and I just wanted to sleep, to shut down a bit… Then the doctor said please don’t sleep, but to me, those words sounded like sleep well, then I woke up because of the movement and I realized I was finally getting into the hospital, where they help me to release the pain and I felt more me…
Through this experience I learned valuable things, that I believe will help me to become a better doctor, and which I am happy to share in this essay:
We are all connected, no matter how much you want to neglect it, we are. At every moment you can help someone either to stay alert to avoid an accident, or to be there to ask for emergency care. What happens to you, happens to me, people are people, there’s no difference with their ideologies, gender, dreams, we are all people, physiology shows us that as well, doesn’t matter what your religion is, our neurobiology is the same, we all have nerve endings.
Best emergency medical care is being there, doesn’t matter whether you are scared, the patient is most probably scared too and confused, being present for emotional support is of great value, never underestimate it. Here I want to highlight, the relevance of asking for help, never do procedures which you don’t know, or you don’t feel sure about. Recognizing our limitations is vital, we always need cooperation and working together.
Life is fragile, never take for granted people, don’t wait to solve a situation with a colleague or a friend, everything changes faster than we imagine.
Accept things as they are and make the best of it, sometimes we spend a lot of time understanding why this situation happened, when in the end, that is not important anymore, the importance is to take decisions and solve problems. We always have alternatives.
Finally, I want to say that to providing emergency care is not just a job title, is a way of life, is a profession that requires your full attention in heart and mind, that requires to stay alert and ready to provide support for long working hours. To be able to do that, we need to love what we do, we need to enjoy pushing people into life, into the warmth of life, into the opportunity of doing what we love. Also, to do that we must not forget to be in good health, physical and emotional, that will allow us to keep focused and taking best medical and human decisions.