Do you feel a duty to stop if you see a recent car accident? A moral obligation? Personal integrity?
Would you be compelled to stop if you are the first responder/if others have not yet stopped?
What if others had already stopped? Do you still feel compelled?
On my way home from work today, I got stopped on a small two-lane back road which services two major arterials. Once I rounded the corner, I saw the stop was due to a one-man motorcycle accident in the middle of the road.
3 or 4 cars were pulled off, and a few people were around. One woman was sitting in the road with the Rider's head in her lap. Another was on the phone to 9-1-1 and holding the Rider's hand. One man was directing traffic around the scene. Another had a fire extinguisher and was putting out the last of the flames on the motorcycle.
My heart started beating fast and I felt paralyzed. Then torn. Do I stop? Should I continue? He's not moving, no blood, the woman holding his head is crying. Is he dead? I hear sirens...
Still debating, I widely wove around the Rider on the shoulder just as the fire truck came into sight.
Relief...
...right?
No.
I began to cry as I drove around the next bend in the road. And am still shaky and my heart is still beating fast.
I've been a Nurse for 3 weeks. I do not feel equipped to respond in a situation like that. Seeing the fire truck did not allow me to feel comfortable with not stopping, even though I knew there was nothing I could do for him...and wondering if I had made the right decision...
My fear is that the next time I come upon an accident, I will be the first person upon it, and that I won't be equipped to handle the situation properly.
What do you think? Do you feel obligated to stop? Is it situational?
5 comments:
This might sound harsh but it is ok. It sounded like they had everything under control. Plus, there tends to be too many people at a scene or an event sometimes and you will notice this especially during codes. So good luck!
I try not to think about it but I have no idea what I would do! I would want to stop but, like you, I probably wouldn't bc I wouldn't know what to do. I just pray I am not faced with this situation :)
My dad has always stopped. He has been the first at the scene and the last. He helped people out of a burning car once and he's not medically trained at all. I think it's a personal decision. My dad and I stopped together once when we saw a huge van roll across the interstate and when we opened up the doors, there were about 12 Mexican men piled in the vehicle. we stayed until the ambulance arrived.
if i'm alone and it's raining and i see a wreck, i just call 9-1-1 to report it.
my cousin was recently killed in a one man accident on a motorcycle. he hit a tree and was killed instantly. i will stop from now on because i'll be thinking about him.
don't feel bad. it's totally a personal decision. and it really sounds like everyone else there had everything covered.
My daughter's an EMT. She is trained for these type situations. Unless you're specifically trained in emergency trauma, let the pros take care of it. Seems like they did afterall. :o)
Thank you for going into nursing. You're a blessing to many, I'm sure.
I have asked myself these same questions many times before. When I was a new nurse, I felt that I didn't have the experience to do any good if I stopped. Though I felt like it would be my moral obligation to do so, especially if I was the first responder. Now that I've been nursing for a few years, I still feel inadequate because of the field I work in. I mean, how much can a baby nurse do to help, right? Yes, I know the basics and have current ACLS and BLS certifications, but real life is a different story! Thankfully, I've never come upon an accident that wasn't already being worked so I haven't had to make the tough choice. I would hope, though, that I would make my God and my profession proud by stopping to help my fellow man. Thank God for the Good Samaritan law!! :)
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