Submitted by Nina Callahan on the 2020 winter session program in Portugal sponsored by the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences…
The last week of my study abroad program left me feeling proud and eager. I am proud of all that I accomplished on this program and eager to continue my journey to physician assistant school. One major lesson this experience has taught me is confidence. Prior to this program, I knew my capabilities and was confident in who I was as a person, however, studying abroad required a different set of capabilities. Through my shadowing experience, I quickly learned to alter my demeanor around others and carry myself in a more professional way. To interact in a hospital setting with professionals that speak a different language is extremely difficult. The first couple of shadowing days were challenging to adjust to. Despite this, I quickly learned to adjust and to keep my head up.
The most influential part of this program occurred on my last day of shadowing. It happened during my rotation in the cardio-thoracic surgery department. An older male patient was undergoing an emergency surgery due to internal bleeding from an aortic aneurysm rupturing. While the doctors knew he most likely wasn’t going to make it, they attempted to fix it. I saw with my eyes, clinical staff rushing frantically to save this man’s life. Equipment was sprawled out on the operating table, with nurses ripping open new surgical tools, and anesthesiologists pushing more IV medication. Surgeons’ hands were frantically moving to suture and stop the bleeding. I could sense by the tension in the air and the eye contact between staff that things were not going well. The heart rate monitor was beeping rapidly, with the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure flat-lining. The head surgeon began to manually pump the patient’s heart for 10 minutes, with his eyes never leaving the man’s chest. Unfortunately, this patient did not make it out of the surgery. When this occurred, I remember not knowing how to feel. I felt a lump in my throat and was at a loss for words. To imagine this patient’s life and see it end so quickly was astonishing. It seemed impossible to imagine how the surgeon felt about the situation and the reaction of the patient’s family. While scary, I believe that it was an influential moment in my decision to become a healthcare professional.
Along with this moment, the biggest overarching lesson of this program was that it reassured me about what I want to do in my life. This experience has given me a new way of looking at things and approaching my goal. Observing the departments and surgeries motivated me to work harder to get accepted into a PA program. I am grateful that my time at the University of Delaware had prepared me for this experience. The information from the Department of Health Sciences has been extremely useful in understanding and applying information on this program. I look forward to implementing the advice and instruction to future endeavors. Thank you for everything UD!
