(Snippets from the frontline)
Being a second responder
Since starting medical school 40 years ago, I have been on the hospital receiving end of first responders as they transferred care of their patients into my hands.
It was my responsibility to sustain life-saving care during transition, assess the illness, create a medical team, then initiate rapid treatment. Statistically I can proudly say over 95% of my patients went home.
If not for physician consultants, nurses, respiratory therapists, and others supporting my second responding efforts, the outcome of many patients could have been in jeopardy.
The tools given to us today have greatly improved the chance of recovery. But also with technology has come unexpected drawbacks nullifying scientific improvements as life expectancy is decreasing.
Communication is mute, compassion has evolved into indifference, the art of medicine ignores it’s stethoscope, and reliance on new tools suppress critical analysis and thinking.
Something is broken, and much of it belongs in the realm of losing our bearings and moral compass.
Business algorithms now await the arrival of first responders, and as life expectancy continues to decrease, so does the 95% chance of going home.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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