Triangles

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It came as quite a shock to me too.
I've been moonlighting down in Hobart and working in their fantastic little recovery unit.
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They train the guys from the Australian Antarctic Division, and in my case, I chanced upon an electrician who was to perform as an anaesthetic and recovery assistant at Casey Base should anyone need an operation on the ice.
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We start talking, and I ask him if it is all starting to make sense.
He gives me an overview of what he has learned, piecing together the complexities of anaesthesia as best he could.
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So I draw him a triangle, the triad of anaesthesia, and explain in a nutshell the three main pharmacological components of an anaesthetic: hypnosis, analgesia and muscle relaxants.
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Then we talk about recovery.
Given that recovery, from the end of the bed, seems complex to a novice, I draw him a triangle derived from the BTT Recovery Edukation and Discussion Deck.
Airway, haemodynamics and pain management.
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He laughs because the two triangles seem so simple.
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I hand him my diagrams and I start laughing too as I find myself saying:
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"There you go! Thirty years of experience boiled down to two triangles!"
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It is a humbling thought worthy of causing shock.
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But at the same time I realise there is a lot of power in those two little drawings.
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Pete!
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