my week #255

This was my week in the Intensive Care Unit and I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated. This is the first placement where I've really felt at home and could even see myself doing for decades to come. There has been plenty of drama (good and bad) and it is nice to know that my understanding of human physiology isn't as bad as initially thought.

You might have seen that I talked about an event that happened on Wednesday morning. A patient had a cardiac arrest and it was my first one ever. The week previously, I'd had Immediate Life Support (ILS) training and in my first year, Basic Life Support training but nothing could have prepared me for the events of that day. At the time, I was calm but I remember my brain just thinking 'concentrate on chest compressions as that's all I can do as a student' and 'please come back' to the patient. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is seriously traumatic for both patient and healthcare personnel and was completely different to the ILS training day. After a good sleep on Wednesday night, I woke up feeling absolutely fine on Thursday but this was all because my mum was the one I 'debriefed' to. She also works in healthcare so she understood and just listened to me spill everything that was in my mind. All I'll say now is that I hope the patient is in peace and in a better place.

How was your week?