Top Ten Skills for a ReSurge Volunteer

Quang Ngai, Vietnam -- Marion McGoven, ReSurge board member

As a non-medical volunteer on the ReSurge trip to Quang Ngai, I have an outsider's view of the process.  As such, I feel I have gotten some insights this week into how medical teams work in general and how ReSurge teams work in particular.  So, with apologies to David Letterman, I offer the following list based on my observations of the Top Ten Skills for a ReSurge volunteer.

1. You need to want to work hard.  The ethic here in Quang Ngai is to see as many patients as possible.  So, if someone comes in late in the day, having only just heard that the American doctors are here, chances are, if the case is one where we can make a difference in the life of the individual, the patients will get added to the schedule.   What is even more impressive about this work ethic is that many of the volunteers are on vacation, using their paid time off to accommodate the trip in their work schedule. How many vacations have you taken where you worked amazingly hard and came home exhausted at the end of the day?
2. You need to be flexible.  Operating, literally, in a foreign environment means  some things are out of your control. Maybe you will have local nurses to help, maybe not.  Maybe you will be able to understand all the dialects of the patients, maybe not.  Maybe you see cases similar to those you have seen in the US, maybe not. Every day is different.  Bill, our surgeon trip leader, says every trip is different; he should know since he has been on 63 trips.
3. You have to love screaming children.  Many of our young patients will come into the operating room calm as can be … many will not.  It is scary for them, to be taken from their parents, brought into a bright place with strange looking equipment and people dressed in blue and green clothes wearing masks and funny hats. (I would scream too.) Similarly, coming out of anesthesia, you have the strange bizarre environment, plus some pain.  The volunteers take it in stride.  So many times I saw Bonnie the anesthesiologist or her Vietnamese counterpart, Dr. Hien, cradling the children in their arms while administering the sedatives in order to comfort them as much as possible.
4. You need a sense of humor.  Every member of the ReSurge team has made me laugh.  For example, Wendell, the PACU nurse, is always good for a one-liner.  Alice, the pediatrician, has a great sardonic wit coupled with terrific timing; when a young patient, finally calmed down after receiving some post-operative pain killers, Alice smiled and said, "better living through chemistry."
5. You need to be a teacher.  In two days of observing surgeries, I have been taught so many things.  Frankie, the OR nurse, taught me the basics of maintaining a sterile field. Bill, the surgeon, painstaking explained details in many procedures from skin grafts to palatoplasties.  And Catherine, our translator, has taught me how to say a few key things in Vietnamese, or should I say she has tried....
6. You may need to be a bit OCD.  Several of the team members volunteered that they were control freaks.  Bonnie, the anesthesiologist, was the first to make the admission, but for an anesthesiologist, being in control is a good thing.  Frankie, the OR nurse, also confessed to being a bit anal; in fact, she timed our walk to the hotel from the hospital the first time we walked to ensure we knew what time to leave the next day.  That said, though, she runs an awfully tight ship in her OR. In an environment that needs to run efficiently, that command and control orientation is a great skill.
7. You need to be culturally sensitive. As a ReSurge volunteer, you are working at a host facility treating people who may have different values.  Wendell, our PACU nurse, explained that on one trip to Vietnam, there were many children who had extra digits on their hands. When these digits were removed, they were given back to the parents for burial.
8. You need to be able to stand for long periods of time.  Given our desire to see as many patients as possible, the ReSurge team spends all day in surgery.  Lunch and breaks are taken on the fly, which means the surgeons and the OR nurse are on their feet most of the day.  Thanks goodness for the tunes in the OR.
9. You need to be willing to deal with paperwork.  There is a lot of paperwork required in order to perform these surgeries.  ReSurge has strict medical record requirements consistent with our emphasis on the highest quality of medical care. Many of our funders also require procedure specific paperwork.  And then there is the local paperwork required of the Vietnamese host.  And that is just the medical paperwork; there are also documents for the families to sign, releases, and pre-surgical exam forms.  It was wonderful to see the doctors and nurses conscientiously completing the necessary paperwork, with the spirit that it's what we need to do to deliver our life-changing surgeries.
10. You need to be able to smile through your eyes.  Since you spend so much time in a surgical mask, the connection you have is often your eyes.  All of the medical volunteers, especially as they are bringing a baby to or from the operating table, smile broadly and deeply with their eyes. It makes sense that they do that, though, since they are all so dedicated to this compassionate work and so generous with their time.

 

Comments

[Wendell Alderson]

Wendell not Weldon. Yes always good for a one liner. Enjoying the trip