My Little Moments - Being there
It's just another reading assignment we had to do for our HP, but I was so thoroughly moved. Here I wish to share it with the rest of
you the article that made tears well up in my
eyes...
Learning to become a doctor A third-year medical student reflects on a life-changing emotional experience
Dreams and reality are often very different things. As a medical student I imagined myself one day taking on the role of a gallant knight, a protector and
safekeeper of the sacred flame of life, creating miracles and wonderfully healing the sick. I wanted to make a difference and
save lives. A road accident during the summer holidays gave me a chance to live my dream - but it was very different from
what I had imagined. This piece reflects on my experience, and on how a brush with real medicine has changed me as a third-year
medical student at Monash University. The smashed machine was the first sight I encountered. A once fast, shiny road-bike
now lay on the ground, a metal carcass. I remember running towards it, scared. Next to is a body lay still. I had seen dead bodies before; cadavers
allow us to release anatomical knowledge with the stroke of a blade; they are the ultimate learning tools. But what confronted
me was no practical class - this was very real. I looked at the woman lying there. She was young, about my own age of 20, still
with P-plates on her bike. It could have been one of my friends lying there. She was dressed up, perhaps coming home from a
club somewhere, with makeup and nail polish delicately applied - real human qualities that gave a glimpse into a life that, only
minutes earlier, was full. Draped over the top of a young human was viciously snapped; blood and vomitus overflowed from her
throat onto her chest; her arm was destroyed. I knelt down beside her. It was as if I was looking through her. I
looked into her eyes but, quite simply, no one was there. Despite the horror of the scene, she looked almost peaceful. Was she
just unconscious? Could there be a flicker of life still inside her? Was this my chance to save a life, to make a difference? What
happened next was bizarre. I became machine-like, visualising a giant first-aid flowchart in my mind's eye, and began to apply my
medical knowledge. Yet again the theory did not match the reality. My only previous attempt at resuscitation had been
on a mannequin with a plastic torso and head. This woman had real lungs and a real heart. I turned her on her side and tried to
unblock her airway; I had no gloves. Using a mouth-to-mouth protective device that I carry on my keyring, i tried to shield my
hands as I attempted to scoop blood and vomitus out of her mouth. I then tried to give her air: "5 breaths in 10 seconds, and
watch the chest rise", my training had taught me. But her chest did not rise. AT first I got angry and blamed it on the
device I was using, but then I realised her entire airway was obstructed. I searched for a carotid and radial pulse but found
neither - the beat of life had stopped. I tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation but she wasn't responding - it wasn't supposed to be like this.
Yet I continued until I felt a gentle tap on my left shoulder. It was one of the ambulance officers - I had missed
their dramatic arrival, hearing my own thoughts and deaf to everything else. Never before had my mind been so clear or sharp.
My adrenalin level was so high that it took tactile stimulation to reawaken me to my surroundings - a feeling I still never forget.
Despite efforts by the ambulance officers, the girl was pronounced dead at the scene. It was in the day that followed, spending
time with my general practitioner, that I began to learn a little about what being a doctor really means. I came to him upset
that someone had died, upset at how horrific it was, upset that I had failed,upset that I had done something that may
have exposed me to to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection, even upset that the damn thing was upsetting me! He sat and
listened. Being able to speak to someone who had witnessed similar trauma was amazingly comforting. He told me that the three
hardest things to cope with in medicine are death itself, the death of someone young, and the death of someone under your care.
I had copped all three "right between the eyes", at a time when I hadn't the experience or the training to know how to
respond or feel. My GP had no magic pills or portions to rid me of the churning inside me. Nor did he
need them - all I wanted was for him to understand what I was feeling. I was given an insight into what caring for someone
really means. He reassured me that people don't expect doctors to be miracle workers - all a family really wants in this type of
situation is for a doctor to "be there and to care". My GP suggested that I attend the funeral service if I felt comfortable doing
so. He believed it would give me a sense of closure and that it would help me to be around others with similar feelings. I sat
with him in his office after all his patients had gone home, looking through the newspapers for the funeral details.
I sat through the service and listened to the account of a life I knew nothing about. I looked around at the web of friends and
family she had interwoven. I was now a part of that web - she had touched me too. At the conclusion I introduced myself to her
father, and told him that his daughter did not die alone, that I was there caring for her. I told him that the last few days had
taught me more about caring for people, and about being a doctor, than I had learned in all my days at medical school. I told him
that I will be there for him and his family. With that, the tall, lanky man hugged me tightly, crying and thanking me for being
there, for stopping and bothering to care. It was devastatingly sad, yet enormously relieving, and I was proud. He wanted to
care for me and to share his feelings with me, something I had not expected. The simple knowledge that their daughter did
not die alone was comforting to the family. They knew that if there had been a chance for her, I was there to give her that chance.
I am starting to understand what being a doctor is about. To really care for someone connects people in such a wonderful way
that it can even make death seem a little less scary. Sometimes just being there can make all the difference.
Ryan J Hodges
Third-year medical student Monash University, Melbourne, VIC
ASUU strike; A blessing in disguise for undergraduates.
This write up is inspired by a report I read which has it that the strike embarked upon by ASUU since July 2, 2013 has forced many students in Abeokuta and its environs to register for various vocational
trainings *raised eyebrows*.
The strike may be a blessing in disguise as many of the students may end up using the trade learnt
while it lasted to better their lives in future, but as laudable as this initiative of the undergraduates may be, I have one fear for them which is that the strike may be called off at any moment thus putting the kibash on the completion of their trainings.
In other news, it is a common knowledge that Nigeria has enough clairvoyants. In fact, the country is brimming with them. From the gods of men in Lagos synagogues to the ordinary man at the street corner who would always correctly tell you the team to carry a match even when the game is still afoot *grin*.
We have them here. It is just that they have not redirected their ability to this all-important area so needed by Nigerians. Given their wizardry in the act, I don’t want to believe that telling when a strike would end is too much a thing for them to foresee. No it can’t be, not when these men stay in Nigeria and predict what is to happen overseas and it happens just as they presaged. Better still, any of the two sides to the trade dispute should be magnanimous to let us know the length of days the strike would take, for both of them are in a position to so has to waste undergraduates time.
Finally, a big congratulations to those undergraduates that are making good use of this strike to add value to themselves, because sincerely,its going to be a thing of a shame that any undergraduate will return to school after the strike without adding any value to himself due to the excuse of not knowing when the strike will be over.
Not taking risk is the biggest risk.
At the end those that take risk achieve greater heights.
Other undergraduates, its better late than never. You can start something now so as to make the strike days count.
"You have as many days as you make use of in a year, don't be deceived by the calendar"....#AnchorQuotes
Schooling and Education: The misapprehension!!!
Theoretically, everyone all around the world believes that learning through teaching,training or research which has effect in the way one thinks, feels or acts is educational, but in these part of the world, it is practically dissimilar.
To start with, an average Nigerian even thinks when someone can't communicate in our official language (English), the person isn't educated. So the misconception therein is that we empirically restrict schooling (6-3-3-4) to education.
So therefore, to understand my views, a change of thought on language bigotry is required. You need to understand that language is no barrier in education. Wether Hindu, Arabic, Efik, tapa, igbo, hausa,yoruba etc
Furthermore, it is widely believed in Nigeria that going to school, which authentically is one of the several means of education, guarantees a bright future for individuals, neglecting that schooling will only give you the knowledge of the field you require to study and also make you literate and not secure for you your actual future.
To paraphrase Bishop David Oyedepo, "Schooling will only make you literate,but your investments in literatures will get you your actual future".
Let me briskly remind you that the "literatures" as mentioned by the bishop is language free i.e it could be in yoruba language or any other.
To buoy up Nigerians misapprehension of education and schooling, we celebrate certificates while in other part of the world they celebrate discoveries.
A person with a Masters certificate is ranked above a first degree holder, believing that a degree holder is less educated.
Let's get pragmatic now.
Education is obligatory for a bright future but not necessarily schooling.
A person who understands buying and selling is educated even though she can't speak all languages.
Understanding this will bring an end to our delusion about schooling and education.
Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard when he discovered that schooling won't get him his actual future but education will, so through learning and research outside school he started Facebook.
I studied everything but never topped but the toppers of the best universities are my employees....Bill Gate.
That was possible for the Microsoft boss and arguably the richest man on earth because he understood the difference between education and schooling.
So, end your fallacy now and enjoy a bias free life and a more assuring future by opting for education and also understanding the big difference.
Help others to know this by sharing and do drop your comment for interactions.
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