Granted, it's still quite early in the chapter. Yet, I am feeling this wave of fear crash over me. Is that a good sign or a bad one? I'm not quite sure yet. I can only hope that with more practice, more experience, and more years of being exposed to the various senerios that I won't feel this way.
Tonight, we were given mock senerios. Some of them were unconscious patients who were not breathing. Others were semiconscious patients who were breathing, yet only 6 times a minute (normal is 12-20). We had to assess the patients, suction the patients, insert oral and nasal airways and ventilate (or bag) the patients.
It wasn't until the ride home that I thought about just how much my knowledge and skills of assessing and establishing an airway could help (or hurt) a patient. Up until this point, we have dealt with proper packaging, lifting and moving patients. We have loaded and unloaded them from an ambulance, cots, and beds. And now, we take that to a whole new level.
Driving away, I thought to myself, "Are you sure?" I know I can do this. I am just experiencing those jitters that we all get when we're learning something of great importance. Like, trying to keep your patient alive!!
And so, I can only hope that this weekend I will be able to do a little more studying to become a little less apphrensive about assessing, establishing and maintaining an airway for a patient who, without my help, may die.
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