Have you ever done CPR off duty?

[nurse4theplanet]

All these current threads about CPR got me wondering, how many nurses have been off duty and had to do CPR? Have you ever been at the mall, or in a store, or at a ballgame, etc. and had to do CPR on an individual? If so, were you hesitant? Did you worry about liability or did you react without even thinking? Was it successful? Did you go with the individual to the hospital or ever hear from them again?

[fetch33]

Almost would be my answer. We were on our way out of Florida and stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. That restaurant is so compartmentalized that I didn't realize what was going on. A family member who had a better view of things said 'there is CPR going on over there'. I grabbed my mask out of my purse and ran around the screen. Sure enough, there were two women doing CPR on a big guy. I offered them my face mask... they declined :uhoh21: . I offered to do CPR and they told me they were both nurses. EMS came and defibrillated the guy a few times and finally scooped and ran. There was a hospital literally around the corner. I am sure the guy didn't make it though. The staff had the place spiffed up in a jiffy and there were patrons seated there as we left. Kind of weird... life goes on.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

I did. My son and I were driving and someone had veered off the road. Pulled him out and started CPR. No success, however im going to blame the 2 police officers and one state cop who had no AED's in their vehicles and we had to continue CPR for over 30 minutes. Thats almost a given they wont survive if you have to do it that long, but you cant stop once started.

I had to get some blood work following,, no mask,, but whats a person to do. I got one and keep one in both cars now and one in my purse. I wont ever be caught like that again.

[ZootRN]

Where you guys getting those masks? In last 3 weeks, 2 people (complete strangers) passed out in front of me, and although they did come back pretty quickly and I only had to ease them on the floor and do a quick assessment, the thought of doing CPR without barrier horrified me.

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

Just do a search online for "CPR face mask". They're not expensive.

[rehab nurse]

I remember doing CPR on a 4 y/o child, a stranger who had been pulled from a pool in a hotel. At the time I was still a student nurse, but I was the only other adult besides the frantic mother, and just happened upon the scene as the boy was being pulled from the water. He was unconscious and not breathing. I had barely remembered what to do, but somehow managed to quickly assess the situation and deliver the 5 compressions to 1 breath. I kept this up for 8 loonnngggggggg minutes until paramedics arrived and intubated him. In the midst of it he vomited in my mouth, first came the water, then came the last meal he had. What was I supposed to do? STOP? I continued, turning his head during compressions, a crowd developed and someone with a napkin kept wiping away the vomit between breaths. My efforts saved his life. He just turned 8 years old, his mom became a nurse in the years inbetween, and I attended her graduation with tears in my eyes.

that's a beautiful story!

[rehab nurse]

Yes I had to do cpr on my own mother. I had gone to her apartment as usual in the morning but she was still in bed and said she wasn't feeling good, she had chest pain and back pain all night and had taken ntg but had gotten no relief and was sick to her stomach. While I was calling 911 she collapsed and I had to start CPR. There was no equipment, no one to help

(i remember screaming for help while doing compressions, there was no suction and I tried pulling the secretions out of the back of her throat with my hands) EMS took forever..it was a fight for her between me and GOD ...and he won.

so sorry, burn out

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

The one and only time I've ever had to do CPR was off-duty. Our neighbors were having a big family reuinion. They'd planned and planned for a year. Probably 60 people there, activities for one and all, young and old.

There was a knock on my door and two teens I didn't know, said, "the baby has fallen into the pond (a small decorative pond) and he's not breathing." I stepped outside my door, said, "did you say he's not breathing?" and took off running the 500 yards or so across my yard to theirs.

An 18 month old was lying next to the pond, people all around, and nobody trying anything. I really felt sorry for all of them when I had the chance to review it all. I reviewed myself, on the way across the yard, and started CPR immediately. This poor little boy never had any kind of response to my efforts and I worked for 30 minutes or so. We live in the country and I heard the sirens, thought they'd be there soon, but didn't know they went past our road by 5 miles and had to turn around and come back. It wouldn't have mattered in this case. He was gone.

A doctor who lives across the street was also there, and he owes me since he didn't do a thing to help, but praised me afterward. For what that's worth. We consulted later as the EMT's were about ready to transport, but everybody medical there knew it was an effort in vain.

In this case, it's possible this baby had some other kind of medical issue as well. He was a foster child and I never found out if there was any other kind of medical issue. He might have fallen and struck a rock that the pond was line with. Nobody knows. Everyone at the party thought someone else was watching him: so lesson number is to assign someone to watch each little one. Don't assume that everybody is doing it. Lesson two: nobody knew exactly how long he'd been out of sight. The time estimates were from 1 to 10 minutes since people had seen him. So no one really knew how long he'd been in the pond.

I tell you it ruined my day. I called my daughter and her partner and they came out to babysit me for several hours. We prayed for the little boy and all the family and I gave thanks that I knew what to do, even it came to a negative outcome, and even that little bit of knowledge was a comfort in the end to the family. They sent a note to my place of work where I got some kind of commendation. Not that you should do things like this for that. In fact, they (work) interrupted it (my shift) to give me the paper. Nothing like the suits, heels and clipboard group to assume you can just show up for a rah-rah meeting at any time. They could have brought it to the unit, but that whole concept of being busy without being able to leave escapes them, I guess.

[AfloydRN, BSN, RN]

I pulled a man from his semi, rolled and crashed, and did cpr until the Medics arrived. He did not survive due to having a pneumocranium, but he had a pulse and I had no idea about his head injury.If it comes down to it, tear a piece of your clothing or theirs and use it as a mouth shield. Noone should ever have to die because someone was afraid of getting puked on.

[ann945n, RN]

I pulled a man from his semi, rolled and crashed, and did cpr until the Medics arrived. He did not survive due to having a pneumocranium, but he had a pulse and I had no idea about his head injury.If it comes down to it, tear a piece of your clothing or theirs and use it as a mouth shield. Noone should ever have to die because someone was afraid of getting puked on.

Im not afraid of a little puke but I am afraid of infectious diseases, no mask no cpr, sorry

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I recently read an article that only 5-10% of CPR's performed on the scene are successful. Quite a discouraging statistic, isn't it?

[balkandina]

When I was in nursing school in San Francisco many years ago I had to restart respirations (he had a slight pulse) on a junky in the parking lot of a bar. I had to clean out his vomit between breaths, We certainly didn't carry masks around then and I doubt if he even knew that I saved his life. I've always figured that you do what you think is right when you are in any given situation. Rather than thinking of it as a gross situation with a loser ( which I am sure some of you are thinking), I prefer to think that maybe he turned his life around.

PS When I said I HAD to do it-for me there was no other moral answer:-)

[flashpoint]

I'm a volunteer firefighter / paramedic, so technically, I am never off-duty, but I have done CPR a few times before EMS was dispatched. I have a pocket mask in my car and in my coat pocket, so I've never had to do it "naked." It's easy to get a little confused about methodology though...I am an instructor and I catch myself doing too many compressions or not enough compressions or trying to ventilate while someone else compresses...:)