It is hard to believe we have moved through so much of our program. One of the goals of our service learning project was to develop a long term, strong relationship as a volunteer. My work with the American Heart Association certainly meets any of those goals! I must have triple the needed hours dedicated during this semester and foresee a very long future relationship with AHA and its volunteer teams.
We have designed the order sets for rural facilities sending patients having heart attacks to the tertiary care facility. It is all evidenced based. except for the (funny, odd) situation:
The use of oxygen with acute myocardial infarction can not be "proven". When studied, it did not change oxygen saturation or outcomes. Can you even imagine if we sent out our policies without oxygen application? Those who have Advanced Cardiac Life Support know MONA (Morphine-Oxygen-Nitroglycerin-Aspirin). It is so traditional!! We vote next week to decide whether or not to keep this non-EBP intervention. What do you think we should do???
My work with the AHA has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride this term. There are some national policies which if activated would eliminate most facilities from participation. I was a strong voice against these very high membership fees. The national office of AHA met by phone with me and several of my team members. That result is not known. I was very proud of the cardiologists who joined me in confronting the AHA. I believe they temporarily lost their mission/vision and will drop the fees ($21,000) for inclusion in the heart attack network. we will see.
All said and done, I am dedicated to this volunteer relationship. I've had to drop other volunteer relationships while in school (flying veteran to Washington DC and horse rescue) and enjoy knowing I'll be back into those situations in just one year.
Thanks for reading my blog! Best wishes to all my fellow students as we come down the home stretch.
Julie Benz
