In this article, I will be documenting my experience, when I went to Hamad General Hospital as a volunteer and observer.
During summer vacation, I got the opportunity to visit Hamad General Hospital for a week as a volunteer and observer in the Trauma and Emergency, Trauma ICU department with three of my close friends. Our supervisor Prof. Dr. Ruben Peralta Rosario who is a deputy trauma medical director and senior consultant at HGH and a Harvard alumni, taught us a lot. He is very compassionate and loves his job and cares very much about his patients at the hospital. He has played a big role in helping me take a decision on becoming a doctor in the future. I am willing to work hard and become one like him.
On the first day, Dr. Ruben took us on rounds and we got to see all the patients at the trauma IC. We saw the trauma resuscitation rooms, and how doctors in trauma resuscitation took care of the patients that came in and how they rushed in to treat the patients brought in by the paramedics. It was truly inspirational to see how hard doctors work to save lives. Dr.Ruben introduced us to Dr.Talat who is a Canadian thoracic surgeon and a senior consultant at HGH, Dr.Talat took us to one of the cafes and ordered food and drinks. We talked for about 2 hours on many things including career choice, school, future plans etc.On the fourth day, we attended the doctors morning report and went on rounds and we went to the medical ICU department where we saw various procedures like a bronchoscopy and central line which were very interesting procedures. We even got the chance to see an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and even had an ECMO nurse explain how it works.
On the last day, after the daily rounds, Dr.Ruben told us that we can observe a surgery. My friends and I were very excited when we were told it. We got dressed in our disposable scrubs and we waited for the doctor to come and take us to the surgery room as observers. It was a truly amazing experience. It was our last day and we felt sad as we wanted to stay longer but we were very grateful for everything we had and what we experienced.
Conclusion
I would like to encourage everyone to explore their options and try to come out of their comfort zone in order to experience new things.
Mahasen Walid , Class- 11th-E
