“Is There A Doctor On Board?”
This was the line I heard yesterday over the intercom 30 minutes into my flight from Minneapolis to New York, and it scared the crap out of me. I’m always freaked out that I’m going to be in a situation where I will have the most medical knowledge of anyone around, and I’ll have to use it. Luckily there were like 4 doctors on the plane; an elderly woman passed out at the back of the plane, I think from dehydration and heat (the plane was sitting on the runway for awhile, really stuffy). She was laying down in the aisle by the bathrooms.
When they made the announcement, I got this look of sheer terror on my face, hoping desperately there’d be someone else. And then my imagination started to run with it:
Me: Well, I’ve had two years of med school, but I’ve never actually treated anyone!
Flight Attendant: You’ve got to be kiddding! How can you be halfway done with medical school and you’ve never taken care of anyone?
Me: I don’t know, that’s how it works, you do your first two years preclinical, and then you take boards, and then…
FA: Okay, shut up already and help this lady!
Me: Okay, uh, get her some oxygen, and uh, water! And… stuff.
FA: We’re screwed.
The lady was sitting up and fine by the end of the flight; I hope she’s okay.
You’ve got that spot on. I’m only in my first year of med school, but this scenerio is already constantly running through my head. It’s scary.
hey graham! Barcelona boy is back home in cali… so um yeah i know this is out of the blue, but i kinda have a little favor to ask? check your dl, i sent you a message there :)
My first year in Charleston in school I was at a restaurant when some man collapsed/began having MI or something.
Similar words were spoken: “Is there a doctor in the house?”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Someone managed to call EMS and an ambulance carted him off, but I felt helpless. What was a 1st semester 1st year gonna do?
“Um…looks like his…um…shoulder hurts…yeah…um…that could mean his heart is screwed up b/c of um…the anatomy and stuff…”
A few months back I was waiting in line to buy a bottle of water at a QT when the guy in front of me at the counter stiffened up and started seizing. I lowered him to the ground and stepped over him to pay for the water. One of the clerks was yelling and generally in a panic. She was screaming to call 911. I calmly told her to wait a minute and he would probably be ok. After about a minute he came around, got up, went out to his car and drove off. The fact that he was driving was more scary than watching him have a seizure.
In the first 2 weeks after getting my MD (on my honeymoon, no less):
-a man started screaming in agony due to kidney stones on a flight to thailand (the flight attendant asked, “what kind of doctor are you?” to which I replied “the new kind.”)
-i came upon a mangled and unconscious man lying in the middle of a street, with a wrecked motorcycle nearby in a rural town on an island in thailand (never forget your ABCs!)
-the german woman in the bungalow next to ours ripped the toenail off her big toe (helpful hint, just shove the sucker right back into the nail-bed)
so, don’t worry…you’ll always have plenty of chances to pretend to know what you’re doing.