How To Save A Life

I had lots of reasons for wanting to be a doctor.

I had lots of good reasons for wanting to be a doctor.

But — and within the current generation of medical students and junior doctors, I am not alone in this — one of the less good reasons was that I wanted to be John Carter.

In our defence, it’ll not be long until we’ve got the first crop of medical students who started out by wanting to be Gregory House, and, with all due respect to Hugh Laurie, my generation’s role model is less likely to get us struck off.

So, having learned that I was one of the ER geeks and that I wanted to be John Carter, it should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that my resus training was quite possibly the most exciting thing I’ve ever done. I called my mum afterwards. I shrieked in the middle of Byres Road. “OMG I LEARNED TO DEFIBRILLATE PEOPLE!” is a kind of glee that even non-medic parents can understand.

I freely admit that I might just join the patient on the floor, the first time I have to do it for real. But in a safe space with mannekins and semi-fake electricity, it’s AMAZING.