Intention of the report
The nursing profession always carries with it many incidences, some often planned and some unplanned. More often, these incidences often involve accidents and serious accidents, which culminate into broken limbs, arms, or even body parts. As a nurse, professional code demands them to stand any site that patients show when they are brought to the hospital. Choosing a nursing profession is therefore one of the most tricky choices because it entails taking the hardest tasks of dressing up wounds, moving away dead patients and handling the mentally retarded. Nurses need to carry all types of faces all the time and do all types of jobs, which come about. Among these jobs, include first aids, handling of wounded and vulnerable bodies, and administering treatment.
Often, when an accident occurs, individuals who are around the spot are called to give first aid and other necessary support, to patients. There are several bodies, which have been established, and they help in administration of first aid to individuals. There programs are however often planned and cannot help much in situations when the incidences are unplanned. The commonly known bodies include the Red Cross, which is a registered association that handles emergency issues worldwide. This is evident in the recent China earthquake where several people required first aid and administration of the basic needs for survival. Even though such international organizations often require individuals to be trained to administer first aid, it is prudent that everyone needs to have the basic skills, which will enable them to provide first aid in emergency cases, where time is a key factor. In this paper, I present a scenario in which I was party to an incident that occurred in one of the hospitals in my neighboring city.
A snapshot of the critical incident
A fortnight ago, a bus carrying pupils aged between the ages 10 to 13, which were at their 7th and 8th grades, slid off the road and plunged into a ditch. This occurred after the driver of the bus tried to avoid a car, which was approaching it from his own direction. Unknown to the driver, the buss was already off the road and it got into the deep ditch. The incident caused some serious accident, and among the injured pupils, two were seriously injured. There limbs were broken and every part of the body was covered by blood. One of them had his upper limbs broken and the other had her upper limb and lower limb broken. This occurred when I was on my way home with my family after a visitation in one of my cousin’s home in a nearby city. Upon seeing the bus plunged into the ditch, we stopped to see what had happened.
Variables that affected me and the other parties in the incident
Upon seeing the nasty incident, I was really shocked and sorrowful. Since we were the first to arrive on the spot, we decided to go ahead and help in retrieving the body of the injured. My brother, who is more courageous than I am, went into the bus, which could only be accessed through the window and passed the injured boy to me. I was shocked tremendously. I had never handled an injured person before, let alone someone covered by blood and whose limbs were broken into several parts. One variable, which affected me, was the fact that the people who had decided to help in the removal of the bodies were courageous enough and were handling the situation with a lot of determination and energy. I had to be courageous also. I had to help in the situation. The other parties, including my brother who was now leading the group, were driven by the fact that he has undergone trainings, which involve performing first aid and other emergencies.
Attitudes that enhanced and hindered the interactions
I should admit that the main attitude, which enhanced the success of our mission, was the determination, which we developed. Without the determination that the crowd, which joined in administering first aid, gave, the entire process would not have been a success. My brother’s positive attitude towards the recovery of the pupils back to life again affected everyone in the group. We were able to see the entire process a way of saving a life and therefore it required us acting in a fast and effective manner. When a bigger crowd had joined in, it became a problem to pass the injured into the ambulance, which was ferrying them to the hospital. The sluggish attitude that part of the crowd was showing hindered the process of placing the injured quickly to the ambulance.
How my thinking affected the scenario
After gaining courage and letting the fears off me, I reflected upon the humanity that we often have to exercise when we are faced with scenarios like this one. Deep inside my heart, I felt for the individuals who had been injured, the entire school fraternity, and parents of the injured. I tried placing myself in that show and being faced by a scenario where a fearful person was present when I was injured. I imagined that I would die without his help because he would offer none. I thought of the job of a doctor, always ready to handle emergency cases even if they are tired, hungry, or even engaged in other activities. I felt bad about myself and saw a need to always become selfless while helping others who are not in a position to help themselves.
What I would do to achieve a better outcome
Considering how urgent the matter was and the level of swiftness it required, I resolved that if I had engaged in such related activities, I would even be better placed. I resolved that it is better to attend basic courses like first aid a courses, which will enable a person to be able to be active and get acquainted with scenarios of the hospitals setup. I also would have done better if I would have attended counseling classes since this would have helped me understand the first steps towards helping a person in need. In a counseling class, I would be instilled with a lot of courage and the reality of life that we often face situations, which require our courage and determination. I would have done even better if I had volunteered to work in a hospital setup or any other organizations, which offers first aid to individuals. I therefore resolved from this incident that while in my holidays, I would try and identify an organization that offers first aid and other emergency services so that I can be able to obtain information and more courage in handling such sorrowful scenes.
Recommendations
Basing on my experience in the above scenario, I recommend that individuals should always be ready to handle situations, which call for quick actions and emergencies. So as to do so, individuals should always understand that we face many scenarios as human beings and therefore we always need to adjust to the many facets of life. I also recommend that we ought to undergo some little, if not proper training on issues to do with first aid and administering of emergencies. It is important for individuals to create time and walk into training camp so as to obtain the simple techniques of handling such scenarios. Organizations, which participate in training individuals, ought to always give room to many people so that they can be of great benefit in disseminating the basic skills.
I also recommend that as individuals, it is important to attend to counseling centers, where individuals can learn the basic of social skills and thus be courageous when facing emergency scenarios. Counseling experts should always try and understand individuals better and assist them to overcome their fears. They should always give room to a bigger number of individuals to be counseled.
Conclusion
Even when faced with a critical incident, nurses, individuals, and the affected often need to be prepared to handle critical issues. The effects of such an incident are often emotional and psychological. We are often faced with scenarios, which often call for quick actions to be done. Such issues often come with or without our knowledge. We however ought to be very careful and ready when such incidences occur. We often encounter call for quick actions. These actions often come while doing exercises and are others come when I have planned while others come unplanned. As a student, I often try to apply all the methods that I have practically been thought and maybe approach my seniors to tackle the situation. There are however, some situations, which call for more help especially from psychiatrist and counselors.
References
Ezra, O. (2006). Moral dilemmas in real life: current issues in applied ethics Volume 74
of Law and philosophy library. New York: Springer publishers 45-78
Streiner, D. L. & Norman, G. R. (2008) Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide
to Their Development and Use. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
