My first code blue- CPR :(

Codes are always chaotic, and scary if you're new to them. The only thing that helps is time and experience. I also felt a lot more comfortable after taking ACLS since it's so much more in-depth than BLS, and also you act out code situations and get feedback afterwards.

My first ever code was a respiratory arrest so honestly nothing too exciting; he was intubated before having any cardiac problems.

First cardiac arrest- now that was a doozy. It was a 21-year-old previously healthy girl...won't get into too many details but she ended up making it

It's the young/previously healthy/unexpected ones that still scare me...I'll do compressions or push drugs, no problem, hard to mess those things up. Anything else, I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack myself=0

My first code was my own pt in my 3rd semester of nursing school.. Talk about a shock. I had so many emotions I had no idea what side was up once it finished, I was in disbelief. He did not make it and I blamed myself for a long time..Seeing his daughter outside the room in tears;tore me up and hurt me more than the pts actual death.

I've had a few codes over the years. Codes can be chaotic, especially if you don't know how they're run. For the CNA/PCT/student, know your role in them and you'll do just fine. When they happen, also try to take in what the other roles are for the rest of the people actually running it. Eventually you'll begin to understand it. After you've taken ACLS, things become a lot clearer about the why's behind the chaos.

My first code was during my Nursing Practicum (4th semester) in the PICU... It wasn't my patient, but she was a young girl and she seized and then coded. I assisted with CPR while the PICU filled with nurses drawing up emergency drugs and the like. It was crazy, but we got her back just fine and I felt very "accomplished?" for some reason lol!

Two weeks later on my last day of my Nursing Practicum right before change of shift, another young girl crashed (she was metastatic CA) and I assisted with the code we ran on her for almost two hours. Unfortunately we didn't get her back. It was an intense and emotional experience, but in the moment, you have to have your head in the right place for the benefit of the patient.

My first cardiac arrest was less than 1 hour into my second day of orientation in the ED which also happened to be Father's Day. Older man with terminal lung CA, brought in by ambo, with unknown downtime. What I remember most was feeling his ribs breaking with every compression (probably bone mets). The lung CA made intubation nearly impossible. The code was called shortly thereafter, but not before I saw firsthand how barbaric CPR can be

They're all a blur. Too many to remember!