A surprising example of how medicine is learned from our patients

“The patient in room 17 needs an IV line! Hey, have you ever put in an IV before?!” Everybody looked at me at once. I tried my best to maintain a confident outer appearance. But I’ll admit, I was caught off guard. I thought back to my attempted IV insertions throughout my anesthesia rotation earlier in the year. I struggled with getting the IV line smoothly into the vein. I followed all the techniques to a tee, watched numerous YouTube videos about it and attempted it at every opportunity throughout my training. But somehow I just never got to see that salient red gush of venous blood pour into my IV line. While it was embarrassing to fail in front of my superiors in the operating room, at least those attempts had been on patients that were already asleep, under general anesthesia. At least the patients weren’t watching me fail as I punctured their flesh with a sharp metal needle. But this was different. I had just started my rotation in the ER. Unlike in the operating room, my patients would be awake. They would be watching my every move. They would be looking into my eyes and see the fear, and they would recognize that the medical provider in front of them was actually more nervous about this IV line than they were. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Education Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs