Career Perfusionist: [4] What Makes a Perfusionist ?
If what you did yesterday seems big- You haven’t done anything today…
– Lou Holtz
“Becoming a perfusionist wasn’t a reflection of education as much as it was an investment in experience.”
So this is a Perfusion Blog, and what does any of that have to do with us?
Well to begin with- we weren’t always us.
Most of your more experienced perfusionists had probably worked in another healthcare related field for quite a bit of time before earning a ticket or entrance into a perfusion program/school.
High school grads didn’t just sign up for a perfusion major and suddenly start putting people on bypass at the age of 22 or 23.
Becoming a perfusionist wasn’t a reflection of education as much as it was an investment in experience. The raw ability to think on your feet when under the gun isn’t in any college curriculum, it comes from a combination of:
- Academic Preparation,
- Experience,
- Self Confidence,
- Precision,
- Consistency,
- and Common Sense.
Repetition helps. Ask any resident.
What separates the perfusionist from the pack, is the need for speed.
Not how fast you move- as opposed to the clarity of thought that gets you from point A to point B.
Windows of opportunities are very narrow for us to identify a problem / mistake, find a solution, create a fix, or whatever, and engage it.
Patient survival is measured in the minutes it takes for cellular death to occur due to ischemia. So it’s a one shot deal. You either have it or you don’t.
But if you have it, most likely you have it due to the rigors you encountered from experience you gained doing whatever you did before.
Basically? You are only as good as your last case. That comes with the turf if you are a perfusionist.
Precision Baby- Precision…
Next:==You ARE The Next Step…
