[JacelRN]

Hi everyone,

I'm more or less writing to see if anyone else here has had a similar situation.

When out with my hubby last weekend, we went to the movies and when we walked through the side hallway, a girl was sitting on the stairway with her head between her knees and leaning over. There was a young man there beside her and a security guard crouching in front of her with a walkietalkie. My first instinct was to see if she needed help but at the exact time I thought this, the security guard said "The ambulance is on its way." I later realized that what I did was a visual assessment. She was not bleeding profusely or anywhere I could see, she was not convulsing on the floor, nor was she unconscious or not breathing. If I was to take a stab at what the problem was, I would guess nausea or diabetic problems. Heck, she may have even been pregnant and had some bad popcorn! Overall, her condition was stable in my eyes.

Anywho, I walked by slowly to be sure I was sound in my decision and said to my hubby, "she'll be ok." We walked up the stairs and I noticed him look back again over his shoulder.

Later in the weekend, he told me that he was weirded out by me not stopping to help. I logically explained everything as I did above but he still didn't get it.

To his credit, he did say later "I can understand how you wouldn't want to be a nurse that night." Congratulations! Bingo. Now if any of the above criteria was present, I would have been there in an instant, assessing and intervening.

Anyone else been thought of as a superhero on duty 24/7?

As always, looking for another nurse to lean on.

JacelRN

[medpsychRN]

-I remember being Las Vegas in a casino when a man began to seizure while sitting at a slot machine. I started to get up but he was quickly helped to the floor and casino staff called an ambulance and security. I didn't think there was anything I could do. The man was safely on the floor and in no danger.

As far as the girl at the movies, she was consious and breathing. By the time you finished making an assessment the ambulance would have been there so I doubt there was much you could have done

[Ruby Vee]

Hubby and I are both nurses -- and neither one of us wants to get involved when we're off duty! A woman in our church has a propensity for passing out on hot days -- it's happened three times when we were there. On each occaision, there were other medical personnel in the congregation who were eager to help. One young woman vaulted over three rows of pews (in her short dress and high heels) to do the "Shake and Shout." I kid you not, she was shaking old Betsey and shrieking "Annie, Annie are you OK?" So many parishiners called 911 their switchboard was jammed!

Another time we were returning to Seattle from a visit to Washington DC, and had run into a doc we work with just prior to boarding our flight. When a passenger two rows ahead of us started to throw up, we just shrunk as far down in our seats as we could! The flight attendant enlisted the doc to help, and he spent the whole flight dealing with this barfing moron (I'll spare you the details of why we considered him a moron, but "Some Dude" figured into the story). The doc knew we were sitting there, even made eye contact with us. Had we truly been needed, he could have called on us and we would have done whatever needed to be done with whatever equipment was available. However, we would have been working as RNs under the direction of a physician we both knew to be qualified in ACLS. I'm not really qualified to deal with kids, OB, trauma -- or just about anything else that doesn't involve a sternotomy and some pressors, so I try to stay out of the way.

[DDRN4me]

Had you been the first to come upon the girl , it would have been different. ther e was a security guard there who had the situation under control. Like you said, we tend to do a quick "visual assessment " almost immediatley! hope you enjoyed the movie.

PS..when i come across these things, my dh always says "what do you do..wear a sign>>"i'm a nurse..go ahead and seize or pass out?"

[JacelRN]

We saw "Assault on Precinct 13", a decent movie and I enjoyed myself without a second thought. Thanks for asking.

And thanks for the stories and support. This was the first time my hubby has seen me in inaction and I guess some misconceptions surfaced. It was hard at first since I was certain he understood how I felt being a nurse in a "nurses are perfect" world, but I too had misconceptions.

If you're not a nurse, you don't get it, even if you've married one.

Thanks all,

JacelRN

[Tweety]

People expect us to intervene in everything. I was at the theater and a lady got dizzy and fell....my friend said "excuse me he's a nurse, let my friend through.....". She was o.k. and there were enough people helping her without me barreling through acting like supernurse.

[errn7]

Maybe I am cynical or something. But unless I am on duty, I walk away going on about my business. The woman who "vaulted over three pews" probably has "RN" on her license's plate. There is the "good samaritan" law but are you willing to be the one that puts it too the test? I deal with "dudes and dudetts" everyday for 12 hours. When I am out on my time.....its just that my time.
Now before I get "flamed to death".......if its a TRUE and I repeat TRUE emergency .....ie choking or cardiac arrest etc..... I'm there lending a helping hand.

[11:11]

When I was in school I had to wake the pt up to start my assessments.

Now it starts when I first walk into the room, spontaneity, alertness, respirations including character etc etc, room enviromnent and equipment and a hundred other things without even interacting with the pt.

I think you did what any experienced nurse would and should do. You sized up the scene, determined the pt was stable and that she had support. There was security personnel present who was at least professional CPR trained if not a first responder.

Plus you were off duty (yuch)-

Props from 11

[nurse educate]

I used to be an EMT too. Hubby is a paramedic (that's how we met ). We used to stop for everything!! We were so corny. Now, not so much. And honestly, how much can you do in that situation.

Interesting story: I was driving in a parking lot (i think it was snowy). Two old ladies were not paying attention, and turned their heads and saw me coming (i saw them and was not planning on hitting them). One of them startled, and slipped and fell. Call me heartless, but I did not stop. Reason being, I was with my 1 yr old (at the time). How was I going to be a nurse and a Mommy at the same time? I can't just drop everything to be a superhero. And then, are you stuck there until an ambulance show up?

[Chad_KY_SRNA]

Is that a good movie? It looks like it has the potential to be awesome.