SOLO Internship

Brock Swenton

Internship

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

In May I took a Wilderness Emergency Medicine Technician class through SOLO academy. The course was spread out over 20 days, and it took place in Conway, New Hampshire. The completion of the course resulted in a 2-year certification as a WEMT, a 2-year AHA CPR certification, and a National Registry of Emergency Medical Technician certification.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

I now have a better appreciation for what goes into the modern medical process. Entering into my project I knew that I was interested in medicine, but I had zero to little knowledge of anything that actually occurs in the medical field. Throughout my project, I was able to interact with people that had varying paths and experience in life which I found very valuable as I am in a transitioning stage in my life.  Also, I now better appreciate teamwork and communication because without these two things, the safety of patients as well as providers are at risk.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you?

Part of my project was shadowing paramedics and doctors to learn about the medical process, and to better understand my responsibilities as a Wilderness EMT. While shadowing I was able to see how an Emergency Room runs from behind the scenes. I followed the doctors as they attempted to diagnose patients as well as the nurses as they ran triage processes to ensure that patients were taken care of in order of their priority of injury. While in the hospital, we had many disruptive patients as well as patients with potent conditions such as MRSA and Hepatitis. Luckily the nurses that admitted the patients into the ER were able to communicate to all other providers to avoid contamination and wear proper protection when dealing with these patients.

While in the Emergency room, there were many patients that needed to be transferred to better trauma centers that had surgeons on call. The nurses had to contact the receiving hospital as well as an ambulance service, and fully inform these two services about the patient’s condition and medications. Without this vital communication lives could have been lost in the transfer of care process. Additionally, while working on an ambulance, I saw another reason for great teamwork and communication, as the paramedic would delegate simple tasks to the EMT while he was performing more difficult skills. Both providers were needed to keep the patient stable and safe while in route to the hospital.

While performing a rescue of a patient in the White Mountains National Forest. I learned yet again why great communication is vital in the medical process. A group of about 20 rescuers joined myself as we were dispatched to a patient that was injured on a trail in the national forest. Primarily we had to communicate and figure out our transportation to the trailhead. Additionally, each person had to ensure they had proper supplies in case we would be out on the rescue for a very long time. Once at the trailhead, we had to figure out the best route of entry and communicate that to the entire team. After a 2 mile hike in we made contact with the patient, and immediately issued care to the patient treating every injury. Once the injuries were addressed communication of what was injured on the patient was communicated to the entire team, so we could look for signs and symptoms of the injury worsening along the carry out. We proceeded to load the patient into a litter (heavy duty sled with handles), and began the carryout on very treacherous terrain. This part of the rescue was by far the most dangerous and exemplified why communication and teamwork was vital. Call outs of rocks and roots were made, as there was no vision of the ground while carrying out, and communication was necessary when fatigue set in while carrying. Without proper communication, a more serious injury could have occurred to the rescuers, or further injury to the patient could have taken place. All in all this process took 5 hours, and this is all pre-hospital care!

Going into this project, I expected many college-aged individuals like myself to be taking this course, but upon arrival I was greeted by a very diverse group of age and experience. There were many military personnel aged from 25-35, older EMTs with lapsed certification, ski patrollers, and of course college aged individuals like myself. I found this very interesting, as they shared stories about the experiences; One man was an Everest guide who lived in Iceland and runs month long expeditions. One of the army personnel was part of an EOD task force, so he would share stories of defusing bombs. With the diversity of classmates, I realized that while pursuing medicine, I could use my knowledge in many different fields, not just a hospital setting. I also realized how early in life I am, and that the experience I gain now will help shape me into the great physician that I one day will become.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

This change is valuable to me because I now have a better understanding and appreciation to what I want to do as an occupation in the future. This experience offered me clarity and justification for the decisions I have made in the past to get to the point in life that I am in now. This transformation helped me understand that there is more to medicine than being in the classroom and learning, as the knowledge is useless if you can’t get the patient to the hospital. Interacting with patients and making them feel better really transformed me into realizing that there are many things to be grateful of everyday, and the feeling of making someone else’s day better is priceless.