Anyone ever have to do CPR outside of their job?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I did for the first (and hopefully last) time this past weekend. I won't give details about the situation to protect the persons privacy, but it was intense. Poor "working" conditions as we were in the middle of a river and had to pull over to the side, not much room to work, and no readily available first aid kit (needed a scissor to cut it open which no one had). Thank goodness there was also a resp. therapist and MD there so between the 3 of us we did full CPR. Unfortunately, this person did not survive and actually had no pulse/respirations when we started CPR. Terrible and sad situation, my heart goes out to the persons family. I was shaking the whole time, the whole situation was just unreal. Anyone else ever have to do CPR outside their job? What was your experience like?

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

Oh my. This a position nobody wants to be in, and it sounds like you and the rest of your "team" really did everything possible. I am sure that the family appreciates your efforts, and bless you all for trying when it would have been easy to give up or look the other way.

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Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.

resuscitated my daughter from a near drowning, didn't need to do chest compressions, I think I went into instinct mode, didn't even stop to think, I had post traumatic stress for months thinking what if......God was definitely there that day

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I did for the first (and hopefully last) time this past weekend. I won't give details about the situation to protect the persons privacy, but it was intense. Poor "working" conditions as we were in the middle of a river and had to pull over to the side, not much room to work, and no readily available first aid kit (needed a scissor to cut it open which no one had). Thank goodness there was also a resp. therapist and MD there so between the 3 of us we did full CPR. Unfortunately, this person did not survive and actually had no pulse/respirations when we started CPR. Terrible and sad situation, my heart goes out to the persons family. I was shaking the whole time, the whole situation was just unreal. Anyone else ever have to do CPR outside their job? What was your experience like?

Wow, that is soo scary. At least the family knows somebody tried really hard to save their loved one. :bow:

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

i have twice. happened upon a MVA and started compressions on someone ejected from a car, he didnt make it.... another time was driving on us-1 and saw a man lying on the side of the road, started cpr and got a pulse and ems got him to the hospital... other passersby stopped to help too, and it wasnt but 2 minutes until an ambulance arrived both times.the car accident was kind of a freak thing. a state trooper had crashed in my friends back yard after getting tboned at the turn onto her street.

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I did the heimlich on my 2 year old niece last year. It was her baby sisters(twins) baptism, and I remember I was so sick that I told my family I wouldn't be there. At the last minute I arrived at the church. My niece choked on a potato chip at lunch after. I was the only one there who knew first aid and cpr. Still to this day I think about what may have happened if I hadn't been there. Her twin sister came up to me and hugged me after, as if she knew what had happened.

I've done it many times at work, but it is truly different when it's someone you love so much. I remember her coughing up the chip, turning pink and me seeing the floor. I was more scarred than she was - a minute later she wants more chips.

I think it should be required for all parents to be certified in cpr and first aid.

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

Twice. Once running across a car accident. BTW, I had just passed a billboard saying something to the effect "Nurses make a difference" not 3 minutes before. Sorry to say, I didn't make a difference. The guy didn't make it. He was pinned in the car. Had to do CPR with him sitting in the driver's seat through a broken window.

Another time I was at the vet's office just dropping my cat off when an elderly man collapsed while walking through the door. This one was successful. I got everyone organized and thankfully EMS picked up a live guy.

I attended three other incidents of people down but they didn't need CPR.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

On my way to work I had a man collapse literally on my feet. I was working as a nurse educator and on my way to teach Defib in one of my hospitals so had a defibrillator with me. Shocked 3 times (old protocol) did some BLS then with the paramedic crew that arrived transferred to the emergency unit.

He survived and went home which was fabulous. One of the reasons I am such a huge fan of AED's

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.
On my way to work I had a man collapse literally on my feet. I was working as a nurse educator and on my way to teach Defib in one of my hospitals so had a defibrillator with me. Shocked 3 times (old protocol) did some BLS then with the paramedic crew that arrived transferred to the emergency unit.

He survived and went home which was fabulous. One of the reasons I am such a huge fan of AED's

Whoa, that was this guy's very lucky day!

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My Mother a nurse, has done CPR in public x 2. Both times there were no pulse or respirations. One lived, one didn't. My father is a cardiac surgeon but has never done CPR in public.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I've never done it at work, and hope I can retire in the next 2 years with that milestone intact. But I had to try and resuscitate an 18 month old baby who'd fallen in an ornamental pool next door. They were having a huge family reunion, and everyone thought everyone else was watching him. I did CPR for 30 minutes, I have no real idea how long he'd been in the water. Nobody there knew how to do CPR. I heard the ambulance in the distance, but it overshot our road by about 5 miles. That didn't help (me.) The poor little one was gone long before I even got on the scene. I never had any kind of response to anything I was doing. The EMT's did all the routine stuff, but when they left there were no lights or sirens. I knew what that meant, of course.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
Whoa, that was this guy's very lucky day!

It was such an amazing feeling, to know that if it hadn't been for me he would be dead, a real buzz and even better, I had been teaching defib for years, but because I was the instructor always let others defib in a resuscitation attempt so I had only ever defib'd dummys before that, coming from an ICU background our patients were hardly ever shockable so I had loads of resus experience but no shockable rhythms.

He was my first time defibbing a real patient. :D

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