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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