Ojt Experience

As I shut off the alarm I look at the clock: 4:30 AM. I jump into my car and drive to Vital EMS in Worcester for a fourteen-hour shift as an EMT. When I arrive at the central base my partner and I are quickly dispatched to the residence of a 50-year-old male for an unknown medical complaint. As we drive to the scene with lights and sirens, I know that it is imperative to remain calm and immediately begin to allocate tasks. Upon arrival, I rush out of the ambulance and grab the emergency response bag, an oxygen tank, and a defibrillator. We enter the residence and encounter the patient lying on the couch complaining of chest pain and presenting with an inadequate oxygen saturation and increased breathing rate. I immediately realize that he may
While I had interacted with countless patients when I volunteered in hospitals and worked on patient floors, my experience with George compelled me to see a side of medicine that I was previously unaware of. As I was walking down the stairs to my ambulance I was seriously pondering my motivation to become a doctor. I sat in the passenger seat of the ambulance asking the question that every pre-med student asks himself or herself: “Do I truly want to become a Doctor?” I had transported many patients to their dialysis appointments so I questioned why George had made me so distraught? I have always been unyielding in my desire to become a doctor and my personal, academic, and occupational experiences had always reaffirmed this. What was it about this patient that had upset me to such a degree that I was no longer certain in my decision to pursue a career as a physician? Was it because he had told me about the financial strain that all of his medical ailments had placed on him and his family? No, it could not have been this. As a recent immigrant from Albania and a son of parents who were unable to attend college and work as a housekeeper and cafeteria worker at UMass in Worcester, I am very familiar with financial hardship. Could it be the proximity of death, given the patient’s age and serious medical ailments? As a young child growing up in Albania, I was unfortunately used to the unexpected and often avoidable deaths of family members and friends due to inexperienced or inept doctors and an undermined medical system. Neither financial hardships nor death had discouraged me from pursuing medicine prior to this event and were therefore not the cause of my