The criticism of these programs is always the same. That training like this ‘is turning our schools into war zones’, that this is ‘normalizing mass shootings’, or that this will somehow preclude whatever your preferred action on gun control is because we’ve ‘accepted mass shootings as part of life.’ Frankly, I don’t understand this view. When I say I don’t understand, I mean I have difficulty comprehending how any adult can seriously hold this view. But it’s clear that that is more about the limits of my own imagination or capacity for empathy since many serious people do seem to genuinely hold that view, so let me explain myself. This couldn’t be real. At any point I would wake up from the most realistic nightmare I’d ever had, spend the waking hour with relief that the horrors I had witnessed were nonexistent in waking life. Even professionals fumble and make mistakes, or freeze entirely, especially the first time they do something in the field. This is why medical training consists of repeated simulation practice and then graduated, supervised, practice in real life. Further, it’s worth noting a lot of physicians and medical professionals are spectacularly bad at skills they rarely or never use in their practice. A dermatologist, despite his MD, is not going to necessarily be any better at using a tourniquet than a janitor who went through a stop the bleed seminar. A veteran nurse who works in a pediatrician’s office is not necessarily going to be any better at CPR than one of the college students I trained this fall.

Ros Turnbull is a trainee Doctor in A&E working in a system which leaves little time for empathy but then a diagnosis changes everything. Al Smith's two part drama examines the NHS from the viewpoint of a Doctor who becomes a patient. Rossaint R, Bouillon B, Cerny V, Coats TJ, Duranteau J, Fernández-Mondéjar E, Stahel PF, Hunt BJ, Komadina R, Nardi G, Neugebauer E, Ozier Y, Riddez L, Schultz A, Vincent JL, Spahn DR, Task Force for Advanced Bleeding Care in Trauma: Management of bleeding following major trauma: an updated European guideline. Crit Care 2010, 14: R52. 10.1186/cc8943If professionals like me go into this exercise thinking “regular people will never do this”, then regular people certainly will not. If we breed helplessness, and tell people there’s nothing they can do, just wait for help, then helplessness is what we’ll get. However,if we go into this thinking “this is a skill regular people can master and will use in an emergency, and save lives” then there is a chance they will, and that, is a chance I am willing to take. Language is a form of entertainment. Beautiful language can be like beautiful music: it can amuse, inspire, mystify, enlighten.

Spahn DR, Cerny V, Coats TJ, Duranteau J, Fernández-Mondéjar E, Gordini G, Stahel PF, Hunt BJ, Komadina R, Neugebauer E, Ozier Y, Riddez L, Schultz A, Vincent JL, Rossaint R, Task Force for Advanced Bleeding Care in Trauma: Management of bleeding following major trauma: a European guideline. Crit Care 2007, 11: R17. 10.1186/cc5686 If realism is as artificial as any genre, strive to create your own realism. If theatre is a handicraft in which you make one of a kind pieces, then you're in complete control of your fictive universe. What are its physical laws? What's gravity like? What does time do? What are the rules of cause and effect? How do your characters behave in this altered universe? I do this (emergency preparedness and emergency training) professionally. I run CPR and bleeding control courses at work on a semi-regular basis. I participate in creating emergency plans and procedures. In the event of a crisis or emergency, I would be part of the response. My department is tasked broadly with preparing the organization for an emergency. Don't be afraid to attempt great themes: death, war, sexuality, identity, fate, God, existence, politics, love. From 10 July, Radio 4 will interrogate the current challenges facing the NHS and consider suggested solutions with four-part documentary series The NHS: Who Cares? presented by Kevin Fong. The series will bust myths as it takes a hard look at the realities of the modern day complexities of providing healthcare fit for 21st century Britain. In Al Smith's two part drama, All Bleeding Stops Eventually, the NHS is examined from the viewpoint of a doctor who becomes a patient.Write because you want to show something. To show that the world is shit. To show how fleeting love and happiness are. To show the inner workings of your ego. To show that democracy is in danger. To show how interconnected we are. (Each "to show" is active and must be personal, deeply held, true to you.) Florence dedicated her life to helping those in need. She was a trailblazer who led a group of nurses to care for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War and developed revolutionary views about hygiene and sanitation. Hailed as a heroine by Queen Victoria and the British people upon her return from the front, Florence Nightingale went on to establish the Nightingale Training School for Nurses and despite chronic illness, continued in her efforts to reform healthcare at home and abroad from her London salon. I myself had been the recipient of such calls. Family doctors had called me in a panic, getting in too deep with their own procedures, and I had nonchalantly arrived to solve their problems.

Florence Nightingale was an activist, a social reformer, a statistician, and a bold nurse who defied stifling British conventions to change history. An indisputable pioneer, Nightingale died in 1910 aged of 90, leaving behind an inspirational legacy that benefits everyone’s medical care today.It’s a stoic viewpoint that allows you to take a deep breath when the blood keeps coming and time is running out. Whatever happens, you must remember: “all bleeding stops eventually”. A lifetime ago in school, in residency, we were hammered home the principles of the ABCs when it came to an emergency situation. You had to make sure the airway was clear. That was A. Action doesn't have to be overt. It can be the steady deepening of the dramatic situation or your character's steady emotional movements from one emotional/psychological condition to another: ignorance to enlightenment, weakness to strength, illness to wholeness.