Oh the horror; Oh the joy!

Week of: 01/22/07

Abstract: What a mixed bag; oh the horror; oh the joy! My trauma rotation ends.

What went well: I was provided with plenty of opportunity to select techniques.

What needs work: You ever feel like a deer in the head lights?

Mood: Discouraged yet hopeful, chatty.

Elucidation: How did the week go? I'm trying to be the optimist here and say, pretty good. I'm getting better at predicting what the tech needs and expects. You need to be good at dealing with strong personalities. If you wilt under pressure, then your up for some rough days, sister. I was more proactive in my own eduction by asking if I could attempt a comp of parts of many exams. Sometimes those ended in abject failure. Most of the time, they ended in a lovely learning experience.

Most of the techs treat me like an peer. Others, at times, treated me like a idiot. I still think of my self as a beginner and I tend to use that as an excuse. The techs in trauma sometimes confuse first year students with second years. Second year students have many hundreds of hours of experience. I'm getting there.

I work in the hospital fifteen hours a week. Maybe I won't know exactly how to position a T-spine, because we haven't gotten the examples. I don't take it personally though, because I know it's needful to get the exam done in a timely manner.

I want to give you a real situation. One of the techs screamed at me, “You should know what size cassette to use for a T-spine!” Her point is that I've observed the exam many times. My point is that with out covering the exam in lecture and lab, I don't have handle on doing it; I might be able to think it through, but it's not yet automatic. In retrospect, maybe I should. But it my own defense, I'm more of kinesthetic learner; I learn by doing. And I haven't done much. This week offered plenty of opportunity.

If the patient is injured grievously, than it's helpful when the nurse gives them meds. that wasn't the case when we began an exam that included every extremity possible and imaging the whole spine. The hard part was that the patient couldn't lay still because she was in so much pain. The exposure times are such that any motion causes blurring.

The patient wasn't able to objectify anything that was happening during the exam because of her dementia. I have to admit that I was wowed by her charm. She was so precious with her plaid dress and gentle child-like manner and words.

It's not realistic in this context to expect a patient to lie still and understand the situation is temporary. And it's not realistic to expect a second quarter student to always pick the right size cassette and technique. How realistic is it for me to expect a trauma tech to be patient with my learning process in an acute situation?

Not very, these people aren't trained teachers. I come from an educational background. When I'm a tech I will be honored to be part of the student process. At the same time, I'll need to step in at times and say, “Do you mind if I take over here in the interest of time. Patients are waiting.” I expect that I'll always treat students with respect. I haven't earned it yet.

I think though my expectations are high of myself and the experience. I don't come across as competent as I would like. It's an issue; how do I become more able. I am proud that I didn't wilt under pressure. I showed heart when it counted. Another cliché comes to mind: If it were easy to accomplish, would it be worth it? I'm having fun in spite of all that.

I had the experience of imaging a six hundred pound patient. Wow, talk about scatter: Nothing but a blob of white and a few suggestions of lung on the image.

Have a great week.

Goals for next week:
Ortho is Disney Land for fist year students: Six comps.
A continuation of previous weeks goals.