Sunday 6 April 2008

My knowing when to quit


Today is freezing and has been snowing. Of course, it's JUST the weather to go to a Football match on duty with St John. I walked to division the other night as it was a pleasant evening. Today is a total opposite.

Well, with an early kick off time, we were required to get to the stadium for a much earlier briefing then usual. The complement was of 24 first Aid qualified St John members, 5 Ambulance aid members, two Nurses (including me) and two Doctors. I was sent to a first aid post with two ambulance aiders and two first aiders. The room was set up and when the corner teams left, it all went quiet. For about 5 minutes. Then we had a person present. After asking the basic few questions that we always ask, ie whats wrong, any pain, what symptoms are etc, it soon became clear that the problem was a medical one. Now, I may be good a patching up wounds and looking after people who have been seen and need care. However, I am not trained to diagnose. Knowing this was defently "not one for me" I unceremoniously asked for the duty Doctor to come over and see the person as this was clearly a job only Doctor would be suitable for. So, with them on their way, I set about doing the observations, and gave a handover when they arrived and thus, the patient was seen and assessed and the apropiate steps taken for them. With this going on, there were other people who came in over the course of the match. Both of these were seen by the other people in the first aid post (after all, this is a team effort and there was no reason for me to stick my ore in).

With an uneventful last part of the match, the last call of the day made to the post was simple, and there ended the match. The journery back in the snow was cold, and traffic was a bit heavy. Still, all is well that ends well. Today also is a great way of knowing when to quit while ahead.

2 comments:

The Little Medic said...

Do you get to watch any of the football if you're covering a game?

Staff Nurse M said...

Sometimes we get to see the games. Usually the corner teams stand in the crowd. The east first aid post where I am has a direct view onto the pitch so we can in the quiet moments look onto the pitch.

The league one side stadium usually I watch from the corner near to the first aid room as we can see if anyone is getting brought in for treatment :-)