Does this sound pretentious?

[crixyphoid]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

This is part of a section on international volunteerism for the activities section.

"The Matron (head Maternity nurse, who handled all regular, vaginal births) also allowed me to assist in deliveries. One day she left the ward and told me to watch over the women in labor, and that none of them were too close to delivering. Her timing was off and I ended up delivering two babies. Luckily, there were no complications. "

Yes, it is true. There was a Jr. nurse there, but she was only 'allowed' to take blood pressure and temperatures and wouldn't help me. It was really scary when you've only seen 3 live births.... Does this sound pretentious? Any rephrase suggestions?

THANKS!

 

[midn]

Whoa... you are a nurse that is qualified to deliver babies, right?

If you have no legal qualifications to deliver babies, I would leave this out completely.

 

[wood41]

maybe the "her timing was off" ppart can be reworded.

 

[crixyphoid]

Whoa... you are a nurse that is qualified to deliver babies, right?

If you have no legal qualifications to deliver babies, I would leave this out completely.

I'm not a nurse. I had no qualifications, except for the fact that I was working and assisting the Matron and surgeon for a week. She let me do way more than that (including cutting and stitching an episiotomy, which she was there for, but barely paying attention unless I had a question.) They also let me loose with a prescription pad and made me go shorten the malaria line

It was in rural, rural Ghana- very likely illegal- but more like frowned upon in small rural hospitals that are absurdly understaffed. So I should just leave it as assisted in deliveries, under her supervising eye???? It sounds to absurd and kinda like bulls**t now right?

 

[sprinkibrio]

This is part of a section on international volunteerism for the activities section.

"The Matron (head Maternity nurse, who handled all regular, vaginal births) also allowed me to assist in deliveries. One day she left the ward and told me to watch over the women in labor, and that none of them were too close to delivering. Her timing was off and I ended up delivering two babies. Luckily, there were no complications. "

Yes, it is true. There was a Jr. nurse there, but she was only 'allowed' to take blood pressure and temperatures and wouldn't help me. It was really scary when you've only seen 3 live births.... Does this sound pretentious? Any rephrase suggestions?

THANKS!

Just say the "head maternity nurse". Mention what you usually did when you assisted in deliveries. Mention any help you got from the other nurse in the room and why there was no one else available to deliver. Also mention what kind of knowledge base you had to deliver based on what you had observed/learned previously. It's definitely not pretentious, it's an awesome story so expand expand expand!

 

[DeadCactus]

Not pretentious. A bit dry, though. I don't get the "OMG! I was part of something amazing and it strengthened my desire to become a physician!" vibe from it as much as I get "Man, that could of sucked, but it didn't so it was kinda sorta cool."

Whoa... you are a nurse that is qualified to deliver babies, right?

If you have no legal qualifications to deliver babies, I would leave this out completely.

It was in another country, probably was legal.

Either way, in an emergency legal qualifications go out the door. You don't leave someone bleeding to death on the side of the road because you're not legally qualified to treat them. It's only an issue if the qualified people are out taking a collective **** and you decide this is your chance to be a big hero rather than call them in or if you go and start trying to treat something that could wait for qualified personnel to arrive...

 

[sprinkibrio]

Whoa... you are a nurse that is qualified to deliver babies, right?

If you have no legal qualifications to deliver babies, I would leave this out completely.

Stuff like this happens all the time in busy public hospitals. Doctors are not going to look down on it because it was "illegal" or whatever. I'm sure the mothers of the babies he delivered don't look at it that way either.

 

[Picklesali]

Pretentious? No. Awesome? Yes! Do you have some ridiculously short word limit for this? If not, I agree with other post FLESH IT OUT. It's a great story. I think you should say, you had helped with deliveries in the past and knew how everything proceeded. One day head nurse left you to watch over them, and while she was gone they went into labor ... and she was unavailable. I think you should describe the experience of the deliveries, the action-packed adventure, how you felt... nervous, excited, was there sweat on your brow (except nothing that cheesy) and then state how this experience reinforced your aspirations to be a physician. blah blah. you're golden.

 

[crixyphoid]

Not pretentious. A bit dry, though. I don't get the "OMG! I was part of something amazing and it strengthened my desire to become a physician!" vibe from it as much as I get "Man, that could of sucked, but it didn't so it was kinda sorta cool."

How about....

I spent the bulk of the day assisting nurses with patient care, cleaning and bookkeeping. In the maternity ward, the head nurse allowed me to assist in deliveries. Saying that no one was close to delivering, she left me to watch over the ward one day. Her timing was off. As one woman began to push, I called a junior nurse, who she said she wasn’t allowed to help. She tried to find a doctor while I started the delivery. He was in the middle of surgery and told her to return if there were complications. By time the head nurse arrived, I delivered two beautiful baby boys to two exhausted moms. I don’t know if the thrill of delivering or the relief of seeing the nurse was better, but they both felt amazing.

Better?

 

[crixyphoid]

Pretentious? No. Awesome? Yes! Do you have some ridiculously short word limit for this? If not, I agree with other post FLESH IT OUT. It's a great story. I think you should say, you had helped with deliveries in the past and knew how everything proceeded. One day head nurse left you to watch over them, and while she was gone they went into labor ... and she was unavailable. I think you should describe the experience of the deliveries, the action-packed adventure, how you felt... nervous, excited, was there sweat on your brow (except nothing that cheesy) and then state how this experience reinforced your aspirations to be a physician. blah blah. you're golden.

If only!!!! I'm just adding a little spice to the activities section right now. I know I'll probably be able to flesh it out more in the secondaries- but I'm just trying to get my later application through screening now! I added a little more anticipation to the revamp.

 

[Ookluh]

For those mentioning legal responsibilities- I wouldn't worry about legalities, in this scenario.

If you're walking around a parking lot, a lady starts giving birth, and you're the only one around with any sort of know-how.. what do you do? You don't say "sorry, I'm not allowed to help" and watch the baby fall out. Silly example, but same idea applies. He was the only one around, and he can't exactly tell the expectant mothers to wait for the maternity nurse to return.

 

[soeagerun2or]

Who cares? Babies deliver themselves.

 

[crixyphoid]

Who cares? Babies deliver themselves.

I bet soeager lacks a uterus.

If you're walking around a parking lot, a lady starts giving birth, and you're the only one around with any sort of know-how.. what do you do? You don't say "sorry, I'm not allowed to help" and watch the baby fall out. Silly example, but same idea applies. He was the only one around, and he can't exactly tell the expectant mothers to wait for the maternity nurse to return.

I'm a chick, dammit. jk...

 

[nova1983]

From someone who has spent a great deal of time (some working for a large humanitarian organization) in hospitals in sub-saharan africa, I would definitely NOT mention this. Maybe post in the mentor forum and ask the opinions of adcoms. Just my 0.02, but keep in mind that it comes from someone who's done similar things and decided NOT to go anywhere near those subjects on my AMCAS or in my secondaries. I kept it to "observing," even if I did more than just watch....

 

[nova1983]

And I've spent some time in Ghana too -- where were you based?

 

[MattD]

From someone who has spent a great deal of time (some working for a large humanitarian organization) in hospitals in sub-saharan africa, I would definitely NOT mention this. Maybe post in the mentor forum and ask the opinions of adcoms. Just my 0.02, but keep in mind that it comes from someone who's done similar things and decided NOT to go anywhere near those subjects on my AMCAS or in my secondaries. I kept it to "observing," even if I did more than just watch....

So are you going to offer your reasons for making that decision, or is your argument that since you didn't discuss it, then OBVIOUSLY she shouldn't either?

 

[nova1983]

It's illegal.

 

[nova1983]

And as I mentioned in my post, check out the mentor forum, bc from the posts from adcoms there, it seems that participating in medical procedures in developing countries when you are not licensed is very much frowned upon.... So even though I understand it was a "crunch" situation, I wouldn't mention it.

Again, just my two cents -- the OP should do as she pleases 🙂

 

[DeadCactus]

How about....

I spent the bulk of the day assisting nurses with patient care, cleaning and bookkeeping. In the maternity ward, the head nurse allowed me to assist in deliveries. Saying that no one was close to delivering, she left me to watch over the ward one day. Her timing was off. As one woman began to push, I called a junior nurse, who she said she wasn't allowed to help. She tried to find a doctor while I started the delivery. He was in the middle of surgery and told her to return if there were complications. By time the head nurse arrived, I delivered two beautiful baby boys to two exhausted moms. I don't know if the thrill of delivering or the relief of seeing the nurse was better, but they both felt amazing.

Better?

Much better, imo. Still seems a little off. But good enough to turn in.

I agree with the idea of checking with people in the mentors forum and trying to get an AdCom's opinion and check into the legality of what you did (though I stand by the "If you're the only one available, it's cool." school of thought based on good samaritan laws and the nature of L&D). After all, the majority of the people here are as qualified to give legal advice as you are to deliver babies...

Edit: I agree with the general policy of leaving out mention of practicing any sort of medicine without a license in general, but this situation is ion the border.

 

[CarolinaGirl]

Op, I would just put the basics in and leave it up to the interviewer to ask more questions. Just say part of your job was working on the wards and that you were able to assist in delivering babies.

Hopefully your interviewer will see this as a cool thing and ask you to talk some more about your experience there. They may ask what you learned and you could tell this story.

When I was filling out my amcas it seemed most posts on sdn advised against putting too much info on amcas (under the describe your activities). You could also put this in your PS....

Best of luck to you.

 

[TheRealMD]

And as I mentioned in my post, check out the mentor forum, bc from the posts from adcoms there, it seems that participating in medical procedures in developing countries when you are not licensed is very much frowned upon.... So even though I understand it was a "crunch" situation, I wouldn't mention it.

Again, just my two cents -- the OP should do as she pleases 🙂

I just want to add on to this and say that adcoms believe that if you can't do it in the US, then you really shouldn't be doing it elsewhere in the world, whether it's legal or not.

 

[Jolie South]

I just want to add on to this and say that adcoms believe that if you can't do it in the US, then you really shouldn't be doing it elsewhere in the world, whether it's legal or not.

Right, it's question of ethics not legality.

i lived in cameroon and had the opportunity to "assist" with procedures and patients but i didn't feel right about it. i'm not trained and didn't want to be responsible for hurting someone should something have gone wrong.

i think the most involved thing that i did was help administer the oral polio vaccine which consists of using a dropper to put 3 drops in the kids' mouths. Even then i was wary.

i say it's questionable to talk about and that you should stay away.

 

[Femme Fatale]

*

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

It's illegal.

It wouldn't be in this country because you're protected by Good Samaritan laws.

I'd make a reference to how you had no time to even consider the ethical ramifications of your decision to deliver or not as you viewed the situation as an emergency.

 

[RPedigo]

It wouldn't be in this country because you're protected by Good Samaritan laws.

I'd make a reference to how you had no time to even consider the ethical ramifications of your decision to deliver or not as you viewed the situation as an emergency.

I'm not sure about that... when I read the second statement you make, I think "so any time he panics, he might do something unethical and make rash decisions?"

 

[leviathan]

If you had no training in emergency childbirth and/or recognizing and correcting potential complications, I'd probably be careful about what you say. It sounds like you're trying to show everyone how talented you are when you might have just been lucky that nothing went wrong.