Losing Patients and Gaining Insight :: Medicine College Admissions Essays

On Losing Patients and Gaining Insight   Call 911 I shouted to my friend as I sprinted down the street. The young Caucasian male had been thrown 15 yards from the site of impact and surprisingly was still assured upon my arrival. My name is Michael. Can you tell me your name? In his late twenties, he gasped in response as his eyes searched desperately in every direction for help, for comfort, for assurance, for loved ones, for death, until his eyes met mine. Flail chest, I thought to myself as I unbuttoned his garb and placed my backpack upon his right side. Pulse 98, respiration 28 short and quick. Help is on the way. Hang in there buddy. I urged. After assessing the patient, the dryness of the situation struck me with sobriety. The adrenaline was no longer running through my veins - this was real. His right leg was mangled with a compound fracture, and his left leg was overly obviously broken. The tow-truck that had hit him looked as though it had run into a telephone pol e. Traffic had ceased on the six-lane road, and a large crowd had gathered. However, no one was by my side to help. Get me some blankets from that motel I yelled to a bystander and three people immediately fled. I was in charge. The patient was no longer conscious his pulse was faint and respiration was low. Stay with me, man I yelled. 15 to 1, 15 to 1, I thought as I rehearsed CPR in my mind. Suddenly he stopped breathing. Without hesitation, I removed my T-shirt and created a makeshift barrier between his mouth and mine through which I proceeded to apportion two breaths. No response. And furthermore, there was no pulse. I began CPR. I continued for approximately five minutes until the paramedics arrived, but it was too late. I had lost my offset printing patient.   Medicine. I had always imagined it as saving lives, curing ailments, alleviating pain, overall making life better for everyone. However, as I watched the paramedics pull the sheets over the victims head, I began to tremble. I had learned my first lesson of medicine for all its power, medicine cannot always prevail. I had experienced one of the most disheartening and demoralizing aspects of medicine and faced it. I also demonstrated then that I know how to cope with a life and death emergency with confidence, a confidence instilled in me by my deposition as an Emergency Medical Technician, a confidence that I had the ability to take charge of a desperate situation and help someone in critical need.