Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

The Felix Bridge

Hey, hey, hey, hey! I am Felix Zubia, a doctor and professor at the University of the Basque Country.

We do critical medicine; intensive medicine for the most serious patients. Here we have patients who have had a heart attack, who have had arrhythmias, smoking, severe infections... Life-threatening conditions such as cerebral hemorrhages, meningitis and the like.

But today’s medicine, in addition to patient care, also has two other aspects. One is research; we do clinical research, not basic research. We do not work in a laboratory, but there are some questions that will always require measurements on the patient. For example, how much serum is the right amount for someone who has had an accident? Or which antibiotic is best for a type of patient? The lab will never tell us that. And the third is teaching: we must also pass on what we know to future generations. And so we do these three aspects: clinic, teaching and research.

As you can see, we have more nurses here than in the other units, we have more staff. There are more doctors because that's what intensive care is, right? To be on top of the sick, and to treat the sick. The rooms that we have here are individual and, in addition, allow us to carry out monitoring, that is, each patient has their vital signs constantly recorded. That's on a monitor, and we're getting it through a computer. So, if something happens that puts your life at risk, the alarm goes off, starts making sounds, and allows us to work faster. In addition to this, we have a different technology: respirators, infusion pumps, special suction devices... That is, we also have structures that we do not have in other normal rooms from a technological point of view.

In addition to this, our research is also directed to these patients. I mean, what the treatment of these patients needs, what the organization needs... It is not only about whether or not to put a drug on the patient, but also about what time, at what time, in what environment. And we try to show what we have there to both Nursing students and Medicine students, each at their own level. Here we have the students of Medicine of the second cycle and also the students of the last course of Nursing.

I studied medicine at the University of the Basque Country. Then, after overcoming the opposition, I did my specialization in Intensive Medicine; and with it, I started doing my doctoral course, and two years ago I presented and defended my doctoral thesis. I have been an assistant professor at the University of the Basque Country for four years.

When I was a child, I didn’t want to be a doctor. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a footballer, if I could be a Real player, or I wanted to be a machinist. But then, when I decided to study medicine... I love it and it’s more than a job for me. I think I’m lucky that I do my job and one thing I like at the same time. Although there are days when it also has a professional aspect, you also have to endure situations that you don’t like so much: night work, shifts, weekends, holidays...

I believe that the work of doctors is socially accepted and appreciated. People know it; moreover, because it comes in a hurry... the clinical aspect is quite popular and appreciated among people. The other two aspects, I think, are less well known and perhaps less appreciated. For many years they have not been included in the planning: the research was done by those who wanted it, or by those who could. The teaching was also less programmed, which, fortunately, is gradually being introduced. But I think that neither the society nor the leadership gives as much weight to the other, that it still doesn’t have enough strength.

The most beautiful aspect of our work is always the relationship with the patient for a doctor. Because when the patient comes out well, or heals, even in other situations, it allows you to meet that person. In addition to that, it also has its scientific aspect; that is, when you put in a treatment and it goes well, it is very beautiful, or when it allows you to measure a thing. And it’s also nice to see that you are able to pass things on to new people, or students.

The worst part of our job when it somehow goes wrong is to see a person's death. He always has that burden. You tend to take it home, and somehow it affects you inside. Over time you learn that the patient who comes out well is not only healed by you, and that you should do the job as best you can, that you should be the best professional possible, but that the result is not always up to you. And that when it goes well, it's not your result or your good thing, and when it goes wrong, it's not your fault. Otherwise we'd always live on a plateau, and it would be insane.