I am new here and a student nurse. I would like some input to a situation I was in yesterday. I saw a young man get hit by a van as he was running across the street. It was horrible. He flew up into the air and landed on his head.
I was right behind the woman who hit him. I was the first person at the scene. I need someone to tell me I did all I could to help the young man. I checked to see if he was breathing by putting my hand under his nose and mouth. He was so twisted I could not check the way you are supposed to. He seemed to be breathing, it was shallow but he was able to blow blood onto my hand. He was unconscious. I checked for his pulse and it was rapid, but he had a pulse. He had blood pouring out of his nose and ear and I believe his mouth also. Someone came up and asked me if I knew CPR. I told her I did, but he did not need it because he had a pulse and seemed to be breathing. I sat with him and put my hand on his shoulder and told him EMS was on their way. The EMS were there within 2 mins.
There was an enourmous amount of blood under his head. When the EMS got there they rolled him onto his back and placed a plastic tube in his mouth and throat..i do not know what it is called. They did not bag him or start any kind of emergency breathing nor compressions. So I believe he was breathing, just blood in his throat. What do you do if someone stops breathing but has blood pouring, not trickling, out of nose and mouth?
I was calm and did not panic, but I was so scared. Today I just feel weird. Did I do all I could have done? Since the emt's did not start rescue breathing does that mean he did not need it?
