First Aid

Today was supposed to be uneventful. Well, at least that's how it started.

We went to a wedding in Bidor, my uncle's wedding (my dad's cousin) and then we went to my dad's childhood-friend's son's wedding. While my dad was catching up with all his friends at the later wedding, my brothers and I waited in the car.

I was happily sketching and exchanging artworks with Siraj when suddenly my dad opened the door and urgently said, "Alia! Is there anything you can do? A lady fell down over there." He pointed near the road towards the other end.

The first thing I thought was: What on earth can I do?? And the second thing I thought about was: Remember Basic Life Support procedure...Danger.. Response..Check Airway, Breathing, Circulation...

I came out of the car rushing to where a small crowd had already gathered. There was a petite old lady sitting on a chair. There were lacerations on her hands and her nose. There was blood gushing out from her nose; and her daughter was holding tissues to stop the blood from dripping everywhere. Ironically, the first thing I thought of was Heamostasis; platelet system and coagulation cascade; which is normal since I've just passed through pathology block. There was a first aid kit next to her. I knelt in front of her and asked what happened.

And I heard the question I've never heard live before: "Is there a doctor here?" and I heard: "She's a medical student." Apart from the daughter who was just holding the tissue to stop the blood from the nose, I was the only one attempting to tend to her wounds.

They wanted to put a plaster but then I said we have to put antiseptic first. All I did was to take the tissues and clean the wounds. When I wiped the blood from her hands, I asked if it hurt and if she was in pain anywhere else (in Malay of course; I guess I can use malay if my life depended on it). She shook her head. Blood was still coming out from her nose...

The weird thing was that, everyone was passing me everything when I asked for antiseptic/ cotton/ water/ tissue, they all immediately gave them to me like I knew exactly what to do.

But in reality, I really did not know what to do. Honestly.

I don't know if what I did was right. I felt so useless and helpless.

But Alhamdulillah, in a moment, the groom's brother got there, who happened to be a 4th year medical student. And there was another lady who was a qualified doctor. They brought her to a car and decided to drive her to a nearby clinic. At that moment, I stepped back. A little shaken and a bit stunned.

I think it was the greatest lesson I've learnt. It wasn't like a huge accident or anything. But when people hear "medical student", you can feel that there's already an expectation. Regardless of the fact that you've only been in med school for only 4 months. And I felt the heaviness of that responsibility on my shoulders today. When people expect that you would know what to do.

I felt so inadequate and so little when I realized I couldn't actually do anything.

In this field, it's no playing business. I mean, we know that we are dealing with people's lives and all. But it didn't hit me til today that every single knowledge would be extremely important. This is not going to be the first and last. There are going to be countless more of these to come; even worse and life-threatening conditions. In the end, I'd have to equip myself with as many knowledge and practices as possible so that I can use them in situations like these.

So that next time, I wouldn't just be there lost; but actually doing something and upholding the trust given.

Can I make it through?

To do: Learn First Aid.