Posted by Captain Dira Myqian (Commanding Officer) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Drake Marshall (Surgical Chief/ Emergency Medicine) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse

Posted by Captain Dira Myqian (Commanding Officer) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Drake was reviewing and signing off on charts from patients he’d seen during the hull breach. A nurse pushed the chime by his door. “Come in!”
“Sorry to interrupt. Patient in biobed 10 would like to see his attending physician.” Drake quirked an eyebrow that said he had no idea who that was. “Betazoid male. Impaled by a piece of the ship.”
“Right.” Drake got up and walked out onto the sickbay floor, heading over to biobed 10. He tried to look diplomatic. “Hello. I’m Doctor Marshall, you’re attending.
“You’re the one who did the surgery?”
“Myself and Doctor Ch’zaraahan.”
“Bad enough you needed two doctors?”
“I was doing triage on deck 8. Doctor Ch’zaraahan kept you stable until I could come up and handle it.”
“Doesn’t really answer my question.”
“You had a piece of the ship in your abdomen. On its way through, it nicked a couple small arteries. You had a lot of damage throughout your abdomen and a lot of bleeding.”
“So it was that bad.”
“Getting impaled with pieces of the ship is dangerous.”
“I’ll try not to do that anymore.”
“Good plan.”
“Why couldn’t that other doctor handle it?”
“Sorry?”
“The other doctor. Why couldn’t he do what you did?”
“He probably could’ve. But in a situation that’s urgent like yours, if we can get a specialist, that’s what we do. He’s a hospitalist. I’m a trauma surgeon.”
“Oh. Okay.” The patient seemed to relax into his bed, like he was about to fall asleep. Drake started to leave. “Thank you both.”
“You’re welcome.”

Drake had plans beyond shuffling PaDDs on his way to his office. =/\=Marshall to Ch’zaraahan. Meet me in my office as soon as you’re available.=/\=

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

=/\=Aye, Sir. Give me five.=/\=

Sen finished up a standard physical for a newly boarded engineer, and then quickly inputted the information in the system. This was more or less what he was used to. Yes, there were odd cases and or unusual presentations, but he was a generalist and had he been a civilian doctor he probably would have ended up in some sort oc community or family practice.

Moving through the Primary Medical Suite, Sen found Marshall’s office and pressed the chime.

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

“Come in!” Drake called.

“Ah. Come in, sit down.” Drake gestured to a chair on the opposite side of his desk. His office was small, and barrenly decorated. A little prize for become Chief of Surgery. “Since you’re in your second year of residency, I wanted to go over your work with our emergency patient. Talk about your experience and cover your questions. Being in Starfleet, it’s best to be ready for any situation that may arise.”

-CO

The Andorian nodded and took a seat at the desk, his antennae shifting in nervousness. “Of course,” Sen said. “I agree it’s good to be ready, I just…” Ch’zaraahan shook his head.

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

“Take a breath.” Drake sat back. “We’ll go over it in detail, but you did fine. What’s going on that’s got you on edge?” Drake had a pretty good idea, but he preferred to have Sen say it. Residents were so often nervous, but that was why learning from experiences like these was so important.

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

He tapped a blue finger on the edge of the desk. “I know mistakes happen and I was definitely overwhelmed and needed help. Fine. But… people won’t trust me now. And it wasn’t even my speciality. I’m wondering if I would be better back on Earth, or somewhere else where I would be more useful.”

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake chuckled. “Nobody is going to care. Residents need help. You’d never been in that situation before. Nobody reasonable expects someone without any significant surgical training to know everything they need to do for a traumatic injury like that.” Drake remembered being a resident and trying his best to act like he knew what he was doing. “Here, Earth… doesn’t matter. Things you don’t know, you’re not ready for, they’re going to happen. But you learn from the doctors around you and before you know it, you’re the one teaching a new doctor.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

Sen nodded slowly as he processed what Marshall was saying. “So… what now? If it was bound to happen, then what’s there to talk about? Live, learn, and move on, right?”

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

“Well, there’s the medicine. But I also want to extend you an offer.” Drake wasn’t sure whether Sen might accept or not, but he knew he had to offer. “You could do a surgical rotation. Learn the things you don’t know so that next time, you’re ready. Whatever practice you settle in, being prepared tends to help.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

The generalist sat up a bit straighter and tilted his head as if trying to gauge whether this was a serious offer. “That’s… a kind offer. I did do the standard surgical rotation but it was clear I wasn’t going to be a surgeon. Then again, intern year is such a blur and there’s not always time to learn details. How do you see this rotation working?” To work with a specialist who actually wanted to work with him could be quite the game-changer.

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake smirked. “Most of the time you’d do your normal work. One shift a week you’re on call to assist, another you’re on with me. Get you practice until you’re ready to handle an emergency case if you need to. Then you can go back to being a hospitalist, and not have that anxiety anymore.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

Sen nodded. “That… make sense,” he said, breathing out in relief. It was easy to work this situation up in is mind so that it became bigger and more devastating. “I appreciate the chance to learn more. I really don’t want to be a liability here.”

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake laughed. “You’re not a liability. You did just fine before, I just want to help you build your skill set.” Then he turned deadly serious. “First thing to learn in surgery is that shaky hands make mistakes. Here in an office, all your worries are legitimate and worth addressing.” He pointed out to the operating rooms. “In there- you are right because you have to be. You’re a second year resident. You know your anatomy, you understand your tools. You have to leave all of this at the door. It’s good to be aware of your shortcomings. When you don’t have a patient in front of you. Surgeons have a reputation for being detached bastards. There’s a reason for that.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

The Andorian stared at the desk. Marshall was right and yet he couldn’t help but be drawn back to his disastrous surgical rotation.”Well, I’m not a surgeon, am I?” he said in a low voice.

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake softened. “You did well enough when you really needed to. It wasn’t a routine operation where you’ve read the steps in a textbook. You kept someone alive so he could receive the care he needed. You’re off to a good start, Doctor. I wouldn’t want to bring you in if I didn’t think you were capable enough for it. I’m not going to gamble with patients’ lives.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

Sen nodded and sucked in a breath. When he exhaled, his shoulders seemed to relax. “Alright, so when do you want to start this rotation?”

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

“In two weeks.” Drake glanced at a PaDD. “The duty rotation will be altered to reflect your position. And then we’ll get to work. You’ll get official orders signed by the chief of staff, your current Attending, and myself. It’ll have all the details you need, but if you have any questions you can stop in and ask.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD

Sen sucked in a breath and bllew it out, his antennae waving. “Alright, sounds like a plan then,” he said, trying to generate some enthusiasm. He really was interested in learning more, but also rather nervous. He didn’t need a repeat of his intern year surgical rotation.

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake leaned back in his chair, a grim look on his face. “What happened? Why does surgery scare you like this?” He imagined there would be some story about something going wrong or a terrible attending but any number of things were possible.

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall

The Andorian was quiet, his antennae quivering ever so slightly. “Just… it wasn’t a good time for me. Maybe I might have done better otherwise, but I don’t know. All I do know is that I hated every minute of it and I lost 3 patients in a row.” Sen shook his head. “The last was a child, and I barely passed my surgical rotation. If it weren’t for one of the residents sticking up for me, I probably would have failed. The Chief of Surgery seemed to listen to them, let me continue with my intern year.”

~Dr. Ch’zaraahan, Resident

Drake nodded and took it all in. “It’s a pressure cooker in there.” He nodded toward the OR. “You can get used to it. Right now it seems like you need guidance, build your confidence. Just remember; you helped save a life. That Betazoid. He would be dead if you had not identified the location of the bleed. Surgeons lose sometimes. But it’s important when you save someone to remember that too.”

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall, MD