The University of Michigan Medical Center was my "tuition free medical
school". As a blood gas technician working in the surgical suite 8
hours a day 5 days a week - dressed in the "scrub suit" all day -
observing and participating in every type of medical procedure imaginable
- what else could it be called but "medical school"? My job title was
"electronic technician" but it should have been called "anesthesia
technician" since I worked primarily with the anesthesiologists and
nurse anesthetists. I preformed in-room blood gas analysis primarily
during pediatric open heart surgery. Sometimes I felt like I was in a
"M.A.S.H." episode and other times it seemed like "Dr. Kildare".
I have no desire to enter into that type of life and death enviornment
again but it was an expanding and enlightning time of my life. I
actually experienced the pinnacle of employment synchronization during
a 3-4 month period at C.S. Mott Children's Wing. It can be referred to
as a "Camelot time". Every staff person from the department head down
to me (the least professionally trained) was in incredible harmony.
Our surgical procedures were running with amazing smoothness. There
were virtually no disruptive elements occuring at any level - a
condition I have never experienced since then. I won't elaborate
further except to say that if that degree of professionalism and
cooperation were to be exhibited in our society on a massive scale
the planet would become a paradise. |
