My field supervisor was out sick today so I get to experience a new area of the hospital today, the ICU. It was so interesting to see how differently the ICU social worker, Lynne, works in comparison to Jamie. There is a lot less patient interaction since the ICU patients are in much worse conditions and a majority of them were not even conscious. Lynne’s case load seems much more complicated as she works with families and other agencies.
In my regular job I had taken a 911 call of an injury accident involving an elderly female and her sister walking across a busy street and being struck by a vehicle. It was a surreal feeling working on this case. As a 911 dispatcher I’ve conditioned myself to handle the situations and for the most part forget about them …show more content…
Seeing this patient, actually getting to see what she looked like, meeting her family, and knowing more about her story made the situation much more real than I’m used to. On the other hand it was nice to know I still have feelings. I think I needed that reminder that I’m not numb to the emergencies people face, it is just my coping mechanism that gets me through my 911 job. I know I’ll develop other coping mechanisms to deal with the situations I face as a social worker.
Another tough case in the ICU was a 40 year old male involved in a construction accident that left him with irreversible brain damage. The family decided to keep him on the ventilator for another couple of days to let family members say their goodbyes and then donate any viable organs. The patient’s wife, two small children (8 and 6 years old), and parents were all present. It was heartbreaking watching this family and trying to fathom the pain they must be feeling. When we were doing doctor rounds, standing outside the patient’s room discussing the patient’s status with other disciplines, the patient’s son was sitting on his grandmother’s lap in the chair next to
In my regular job I had taken a 911 call of an injury accident involving an elderly female and her sister walking across a busy street and being struck by a vehicle. It was a surreal feeling working on this case. As a 911 dispatcher I’ve conditioned myself to handle the situations and for the most part forget about them …show more content…
Seeing this patient, actually getting to see what she looked like, meeting her family, and knowing more about her story made the situation much more real than I’m used to. On the other hand it was nice to know I still have feelings. I think I needed that reminder that I’m not numb to the emergencies people face, it is just my coping mechanism that gets me through my 911 job. I know I’ll develop other coping mechanisms to deal with the situations I face as a social worker.
Another tough case in the ICU was a 40 year old male involved in a construction accident that left him with irreversible brain damage. The family decided to keep him on the ventilator for another couple of days to let family members say their goodbyes and then donate any viable organs. The patient’s wife, two small children (8 and 6 years old), and parents were all present. It was heartbreaking watching this family and trying to fathom the pain they must be feeling. When we were doing doctor rounds, standing outside the patient’s room discussing the patient’s status with other disciplines, the patient’s son was sitting on his grandmother’s lap in the chair next to