REFLECTIONS
FROM ZOOM MEDICINE TO REAL MEDICINE By Jennifer Geller "Follow that one; that is going to be interesting," a voice pierces through the hustle of the emergency department. After spending my first year of medical school learning from behind a computer screen, it is a breath of fresh air to be surrounded by passionate medical providers. All year, I desired to put the skills I was learning into practice. Sitting for hours with my laptop being my primary connection to medicine, I had to keep reminding myself what was at the end of this tunnel. Zoom fatigue from long lecture days intersected with long studying nights created a cyclical routine where I longed to get back into the clinic — meeting patients and thinking through complex medical challenges. Today was much awaited.
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I fly after the patient's medical team, unsure where they are headed but eager to learn no matter what. Just as the team prepares to intubate this patient at one of the department's resuscitation bays, one nurse feels for the patient’s carotid pulse. Nothing. Now, I am not a doctor yet; however, my years of EMS have made me familiar with what comes next when a patient has no pulse. Grabbing a stool and lowering the stretcher, CPR is started. As someone begins chest compressions, I realize that this is something I can do to help. "What am I allowed to do to help?" I ask the patient's attending — a mentor of mine since the first day of medical school as a small-group instructor for one of my Zoom courses. Answer: Chest compressions.
