THE TALE OF MY STANDARD FIRST AID/CPR CERTIFICATION:
Before I'm able to start clinical practice next semester, I need to be certified in First Aid. Makes sense, right? So me and 2 of my girlfriends signed up to get certified this past weekend, after months of putting it off.
I'll admit I went in with a pretty bad attitude. I remember doing this course 3 years ago (expires after 3 yrs - hence me taking it again) and it being incredibly grueling... the hours dragging past. So I expected the same thing again. Instead, I ended up learning SO much and actually having a lot of fun.
Three Factors Made It Bearable -->
1)Our instructor, Justin, had an amazing sense of humor. I can't stress how much a difference that makes
2)I was with friends, so we talked and joked and went to Logan's Pub for dinners afterwards because another friend from our program works there.
3)We had TONS of practice. For every hour that our instructor talked, we spent an hour practicing the skill... so out of the 16 hours of the course, 8 of those hours were spent doing the skills. This is how it worked: After a morning of Justin teaching, we had lunch then came back and broke into partners. One of the people in the pair would leave the room, and the other would stay and Justin would set them up with some kind of elaborate injury or medical emergency. He had a whole box of fake blood, skin with bones coming out of it, harmful objects, etc, etc, etc. So when the other half of the class came back into the room, the room was filled with people all suffering from various horrifying injuries, and they had to find their partner, find out what was wrong with them, and then act appropriately. It was actually kind of stressful at times, but more than anything I had a lot of fun with it.
So, this weekend I: had hypothermia, an allergic reaction to a bug bite, slit my wrists, got knocked unconscious by a piece of cement, and got second degree burns on my hands. I also saved the life of someone: having a diabetic seizure, hit my a car with their intestines hanging out, with heat stroke, with a broken leg including deadly bleeding, and suffering from a stroke.
It was like dressing up for Halloween! He painted our faces, supplied us with fancy wounds and extravagant costumes, along with imaginative, long stories about how we ended up the way we did. It was admittedly a little over-the-top... but it made it so much more enjoyable and realistic.
Afterwards, I actually feel confident in my abilities to help someone in an emergency... or for something more minor. Turned out well I think.
There was something that bothered me though. Something Justin said again and again is, "... until a health professional takes over." Now, in most 911 emergencies, it's going to be a paramedic that's first on the scene... but after the ambulance gets them to the hospital, or after the first aider drives the individual to the hospital, the care of that person will be in my hands. Unlike everyone else in the class, I can't take comfort in knowing the help is on the way and afterwards I won't have to deal with it anymore. It takes the ambulance 4-8 minutes to get there in most urban areas. Instead, I'm the one the injured person is being handed over to. That was kind of shocking to realize... but the longer I let the thought sit in my mind, the more I like the idea of it. I like that I will be trained to handle things like that, I love that I will be saving people's lives for a living. What could be better?!
