Hello my lovely readers, I am so happy to announce that I am now certified in CPR and in First Aid by the American Red Cross!
Two weeks ago I heard about a great opportunity, my SGA was sponsoring CPR training for only $20 right here on campus! Right away I knew I had to go and sign up because this opportunity was too good to miss. I had been seriously considering getting this training for a while and so I was so happy to get this chance.
Getting trained in CPR and First Aid is important to me because I want to be able to help people in times of need and to be an active bystander in emergency situations. I didn't want to wait until medical school to learn how to help others. One of the reasons why I want to go into the field of medicine is to save lives, help people be healthy, and to help them in their times of needs. During my training, I realized how crucial it is be properly trained because in that moment that person's life is in your hands and this really showed me why the long 8+ years ahead of me are worth it. Going through this training really secured my passion for medicine as I enjoyed every second of learning! Even though I felt scared and unsure at first by the end I felt comfortable performing all the life-saving techniques.
What did I learn?
I think it's important for everyone to have some idea of what to do in emergency situations so I would like to share what I believe are some key points. I encourage you all to get CPR/First Aid trained because you never know what situation you might be in.
1. Call for help, call 911 or #3333 if on UMD campus
The first step we all can take is to acknowledge that there is a problem and to seek help for the person in need. One unfortunate habit in our society is something called the "Bystander Effect", this is when each person things that another person will help and in the end no one actually helps! Studies show that when there are more bystanders there can actually be less chances for a person to help, crazy right? Don't depend on others, if you didn't see and hear someone call 911 you should call, if you're not sure still call, it can't hurt.
2. Assessing the Situation
The Red Cross calls this "sizing up the scene", basically you should see if it is safe for you to help. You also want to gain a general judgement of what's going on, did you see someone fall? Does someone look like they're choking? Does someone seem sick? While you're doing this you can judge whether this is a situation that you can aid it and does 911 need to be called?
3. Is the person breathing? Do they have a pulse
This is very crucial to knowing the condition of the person, if they are not breathing or don't have a pulse then they need immediate help in the form of CPR, Ventilations, and as mentioned before 911 would be called immediately.
One thing that I had an interesting experience with was caring for an infant. Not going to lie, I felt very nervous as we went into this portion of our training because babies are so fragile, but I was also very eager to learn. Whenever an infant is choking or unresponsive you really want to call 911 immediately and help that baby as soon as possible.
I think one thing I learned is the importance of staying calm in order to give the best care. I walked out of my training feeling confident in all the procedures and confident that I can perform them in an emergency situation, although I hope I do not have too. I know that the real thing will be more difficult because people's lives are literally on the line, but dealing with that pressure is what I sign up for as a future doctor and all the stress, preparation, and years of training is worth it when you get to save someone's life.
I hope you all liked the blog post and learned a thing or two! I didn't want to get to much into the information about how to do the procedures because I believe they should be learned through the very clearly laid out modules and training that the Red Cross provides. I really suggest you all to get certified, it was a great experience!