Oh, the Pressure

Today we learned how to take blood pressure readings. What does it say about me that I found it incredibly fun? Clearly, I need to get out more. But I can't begin to count the number of times I've had my blood pressure taken, and all those times I never understood the numbers, the equipment, the results. I now own a stethoscope and a cuff and a sphygmomanometer. In purple. And I know how to use them. Well, okay, I need a lot more practice. After all, I'm not sure a patient on the verge of cardiac arrest is going to appreciate how long it takes me to line up the cuff over the brachial pulse, inflate, reposition my ear pieces, deflate slowly, inflate again just to be sure I heard the pulse, deflate again even more slowly so as to get the diastolic number correct, etc.

But lab today was fun. There were four of us sitting around, taking turns with one another's pulses, radial and brachial and systolic and diastolic, pulsated and auscultated, and laughing because I was convinced my partner was one of the undead, and then, poor guy, I left the cuff fully inflated around his arm as I asked someone else a question, so he calmly reached over and released the air for himself. I still chuckle just thinking about it, but maybe it's one of those circumstances where you had to be there.

And that's the point: I am so glad I am there. It's intense. There is a ton of information being thrown at you, there's constant assessing going on, constant preparing for the next quiz, next exam, but also preparing for the real world of emergency medical services. And you're in a room with 31 other people, people who were complete strangers two weeks ago. Two weeks! I've only seen these people four times in my life, but they are familiar to me now, I know things about them I never thought I'd know about anyone in such a short period of time. It's not like joining the military or even like being a kid at summer camp, where every waking moment is shared with your cohorts so you bond in no time. But we are all in that room, sharing a common purpose, which is to pass our tests, both written and practicals, and learn all the skills we need to know in order to be effective emergency medical personnel. None of us could do it in a vacuum. Yeah, there are some jerks in the class who think they're the best of the best already, who came in with a cocky attitude and act like the world owes them something. There are people like that everywhere. The majority of the other students, however, are supportive and encouraging and really want to be good at what they do. They want to offer help and accept help. They want to have fun and learn everything.

Yup, learning and having fun. I'm not sure it gets much better than that.