Combat Medic course week 4

The weeks have finally become easier in the medic courses. Now, instead sitting in classes for 8 hours a day, we have started to do more "hands on work."

For example, this week, we learned how to open up an IV in the middle of the night. The difference is that in the morning you can see the vein, while at night we need to feel it. Also, during the day we can tell if we’ve entered a vein or not, with the help of a cup at the back of the needle. If we entered a vein, the cup will fill with blood. However at night, we can’t see the cup so instead we open up the cover for it and feel the blood.

The other thing we learned this week was how to give injections. Since we might have to administer medication to a patient, we need to learn how to give injections and where on the body they go.

The class went something like this:

First the commander told us where and how much liquid to give. Then we prepared our injections with Saline fluid. Then we took turns injecting our partners, first in the arms and then in the butts.

Finally, our commander taught us how to give an injection in the leg. As we got into our groups again to practice this, our commander said to stop what we were doing and to make a circle. He then dropped his pants and proceeded to inject himself. Then, with the injection still in him preceded to explain to us that for this injection we were going to do Ma'agal Lachas (pressure circle).

The way it works is that we all stand in a circle and one at a time injects ourselves in the leg. The only way to remove the needle is for the last person to inject himself. Once the last person is done with the injection, the first person can take out the needle. (This is considered the hazing of the medical corps in the army. Instead of doing weird things to pledge to join this frat, everyone must do this circle game.)

Once we were all done injecting ourselves, the commander said: "ok, now leave it in, while I go take care of something."

The pictured look something like this:

20 soldiers, with their pants down and a needle sticking out of their leg, with questionable looks on their face as to how long will we have to leave this in.

Thankfully the commander came back after a few min and we proceeded to take out the needle one at a time. I was the third on in the circle so while I had to stick it in sooner, I also got to take it out sooner.

The other things we did this week were:

1) Had a total of 3 tests on different things

2) Have different training exercises. (The one where we split up into groups of three. When it was my turn to be the medic, I had 45 seconds to insert an IV. I passed with only 10 seconds left :)

3) We continued to learn about different problems people can have depending on the weather

In other news:

I want to congratulate my cousin, Olivia (from the The Curious Jew) on her wedding to her new husband :)

Starting medics course

The past three weeks were the hardest three weeks I have had, mentally speaking, in a long long time. The reason for this is because it has been non-stop learning in the mornings, noon and nights. Most of our day is scheduled as followed:

Wake up at 6:15.

Start our morning cleanup, brake at 7 for breakfast and have the inspection at 8.

Then the class schedule is 8-10, 10:30-12:30, 1-2 (lunch) 2-4, 4:30-6:30, 7-8 (dinner) 8-10. As you can see, each class is around two hours (this can change depending on the class) and usually a 30min break (although if class runs longer then the break is shorter and vies-versa, if we finish what we need to d then we get a longer break.) All the classes are taught in Hebrew and for the first week and a half, I only had Hebrew books. Then I received the English material and had an easier time in the class because I finally understood what was going on.

The first week consisted of learning about the anatomy of the body. We learned all about what systems are in the body, such as respiratory and blood. We also learned about some types of trauma we might find in the field and we also started to learn about pharmacology. We also had out first test on what we had learned so far. The passing rate for the first test is 20% of the class. There are 63 kids in my class so not many people passed.

The next week was a continuation of what we learned the previous week, with a lot more focus on the trauma and the effects of certain medicines, such as acomol and other ibuprofens. We also started learning about bandages and what exactly to do in the field when we come upon an injured person.

We also had 2 tests this week. One on the anatomy of the body and a test on Baratz (medical problems either found on base or can get from other sources but relate to injuries. For example, AIDS, HIV a, b, c Rabbis and others.)

We ended up having to close base last week as well. Our job was to run with the stretchers to an attack on base, in case there was on. Luckily that didn't happen and we had a relaxing weekend off.

Then week 3 came upon us. We finished up learning the steps in the field and started BOOMS. Booms are training exercise done on base. The way it works is that the class splits into groups of three. One person is the injured, one person is the medic and one person is with a book that tells him the scenarios and what the medic should do in each state. An example is that a person is found on the side of the road with a bullet wound to the hand. His pulse is dropping fast and he might have another wound on his leg that we don’t find out about till later on.

The medic would have to come onto the scene and treat the person for what he found. The Booms are a lot of fun and a great training tool because it really does help us prepare for real scenarios we might find in the field.

The other things we had this week was a test on equipment. We had learned in the beginning of the week how to use an oxygen tank, suction machine and an ambo (a device used to help someone breathe who isn't.

Throughout the course we have also learned how open someone’s veins, in order to give them medicine. We have been taking turns opening up people’s veins and we have even gotten to the point where we have started to attach IV drips.

We have also learned about Morphine and its effects on the body.

Next week we will continue to do booms and have our classes in pharmacology as well as batarz and other fun things.