Day: #366

As of today, January 24, 2012, I have been an official employee of St. John’s Hospital – or should I say, Mercy, Springfield – for one year. The name change has been only one of many things that have occurred since that time only 365 days ago. In honor of the occasion, I’ve decided to do a mini-series of blog posts on what I’ve learned, seen, and done in the past year, how my life is different because of my experiences, my perspective of the medical world as viewed through a Christian worldview, and the possibilities to come.

For now, let me leave you with my thoughts from New Year’s Eve 2011. At the time, I decided I would save this part of my year-end reflections until my one-year mark with St. John’s employment. And now it’s that time, so enjoy!

“It is so easy to become overwhelmed with the world, it’s standards and demands, it’s definition of success, and striving for temporary fulfillment. But I have learned the importance of fighting for what is right, living a pure and righteous life, and being set-apart from those around me. I wasn’t called to conform to the world, but the image of God’s Son. I can’t live to please everyone; I’d much rather focus on pleasing the only One that matters.

This year at the emergency room, I have witnessed many people being hurt both physically and emotionally, rejected, in despair, lonely, abandoned, in deep sorrow, and searching for something when they don’t even know they’re searching. I’ve seen violence, abuse, perversion, the consequence of sinful decisions, lawbreakers, psychologically disturbed patients, elderly people dying of loneliness, suicidal attempts, men and women wallowing in drunkness, ignorance, arrogance, anger, filth, obscenity, gluttony, deceit, theft, rudeness, and hate. The world is a dark place, but thank God for his mercy and light. I’ve also witnessed lovingkindness, gentleness, loyalty, grace, people at their best in their worst times, strength in vulnerability, trust, compassion and empathy, healing, resilience, and gratefulness. As one may ascertain, it can be hard to buffer oneself from the effect of whiplash among all of these emotions and realities.

It’s easy to become burned-out in such a fast-paced, demanding, and draining environment. And I hit that point at about month 5. At that point, it felt like an endless plodding of hours, or a ceaseless circling of a revolving door – patients in, patients out, never stopping, never done. I had to learn to limit myself, get enough rest and have some days completely off to recharge, not sacrifice my spiritual renewal and growth, and to spend time with others outside of work. I started out naïve, trusting, gullible, with a young and innocent belief in the decency of every person…I swung to the opposite extreme, believing every person a liar, selfish, and manipulative…and I now have fought for a more moderate perspective in the middle. Through the past year, I have learned to better judge if someone is telling the truth, their motives, and their severity of injury.

Since working at St. John’s, I have learned social politeness, better phone etiquette, the importance of patient identification, to relate on a professional level with physicians, the difference between normal and abnormal vital signs, and different protocols in situations. Since I’ve started, I have observed a cath lab procedure, done CPR on a coding patient, and seen the first-hand effects of meth use. I’ve also seen patients dying of HIV/AIDS, run from the police, be restrained by security, learned how to avoid or dissolve a hostile situation, seen stomachs pumped due to bowel obstructions, observed physicians struggle with how to break news of a miscarriage to mothers-to-be, and observed a chest tube placement. I’ve seen hundreds of x-rays, performed hundreds of EKGs, given thousands of directions, cleaned hundreds of rooms, transported hundreds of patients to rooms, saved the world one bladder at a time nearly a million times, helped splint broken bones, performed orthostatic vitals, and learned the medical/hospital lingo, including the alphabet soup of that world.”

I have been incredibly blessed to have the opportunities and experiences I have had in the past year. Every day I try to learn something new, and rarely am I unsuccessful in that pursuit. It’s a wonderful place to be at this point in my life – I have transitioned from gaining my knowledge primarily from books to learning nearly entirely through practical application this past year. Although it would be great to have both types of learning at the same time, the variety is great.

That’s all for now. Look for the beginning of the mini-series blog posts soon!