Have you ever performed CPR? Results?:

Nurses Safety

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I don't know how to insert a poll tool, but here's my story. LTC, shift change, I went looking for the day nurse. She said "I'm in here!", so I entered the room. As soon as she pulled back the curtain (she had started and was doing CPR on a patient), she 'pushed' me towards the dead patient, and said "I have to go to the bathroom- and this lady needs CPR!". So, I started CPR myself, and had a CNA call 911. But the lady had been dead so long she was cold- I didn't have any time to evaluate what was going on. Yes, she died. Only time I've done CPR.

My brother was an RN, in Philly. Walking home, he came upon a man that had been shot, and the police were present. He noticed the man was not being attended to, so he ran under the yellow crime scene tape, determined that the fallen man was alive and bleeding out and needed CPR, and started CPR. The police told him to get back out of the scene, he told them "I'm a nurse- he needs CPR!". My brother was arrested for 'disorderly conduct' and 'disobeying the orders of a peace officer', and the man bled to death. The charges were dismissed, but my brother never got over that experience.

Specializes in NICU, OB/GYN.
Gotcha, I was referring to Calabria's comment about CPR possibly altering evidence in a crime scene.

You're extrapolating too little from my comments, unfortunately (or perhaps I was not clear). The OP's brother, a passerby, was warned not to enter the crime scene by police officers who were securing it. My father is a retired police officer from the Philadelphia area, and I have relatives who work for fire/EMS in Philadelphia; my father's department was trained in first aid (and CPR). Several officers taught BLS, actually. The police are able to provide first aid and CPR if necessary; they don't need a nurse passerby to run through their crime scene, contaminating it to provide aid. It is likely that the police knew something that the OP's brother did not. I understand the desire to help an injured person outside of the workplace, but (like Sionainn said) it needs to be kept in check with keeping oneself and those around you safe.

Specializes in NICU, OB/GYN.
I am opposed to the idea that people should be permitted to die so that evidence can be preserved. Not a comfy fit for any core nursing principle.

Really? You're putting words in my mouth, and taking this slippery slope? This is absurd. Let's have some respect for our first responders and let them do their jobs. They were on scene and trained to provide first aid, able to provide assistance, and knew more about the situation than the OP's brother, who ran through the scene to assist even when he was told not to do so, putting himself and the officers' lives at risk. I'm not sure of any situation where I, as a nurse, would feel "comfy" taking over for first responders in the middle of a crime scene that I had just stumbled upon.

Many times. A few stand out.

I had just settled my postop CABG after morning care and bed change, said, "Back soon, anything you want?" "Breakfast?" "OK," and gone out to the nurses station. Looked up and saw all sorts of crap on the monitor, thought he must have rolled over and rattled the wires. Went back in and found him in VF with his eyes rolled up (must have been the dang toothpaste) and hit the code button for backup. Had the presence of mind to grap a towel to put over his sternum as I got up on the bed to do compressions, because with a fresh median sternotomy it got sorta slippery (crunch, crunch, crunch....eeeeesh). Since it was probably less than fifteen seconds since he flipped into VF and got shocked stat, he literally woke right up, looked at us all assembled, and asked to get up in the chair for breakfast. Really. He had no memory of any of it. We told him, "Not right now."

Another was a guy who was standing at the counter at the hardware store and keeled over, flat out backwards with no attempt to break his fall. He must have had a big old CVA or something, had massive posterior fossa fractures and blood out the ears, but we had him in the ICU and he arrested. I was 8.5 months pregnant but managed to climb up there and start compressing him. He was probably dead before we got him in the first place, but this was the final declaration of independence for him.

I'll clarify- he was not warned not to enter, he entered unknowingly, and started CPR, then then he was ordered out, and arrested. The police made no attempt to assist the man on the ground, they stood by and let him die. Five white cops, one black dead man, yada/yada, it made huge regional news. Me? I wouldn't start CPR unless I witnessed an otherwise healthy appearing person have an arrest, or a friend/loved one.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." -Proverb

But thanks for the responses regarding the question- in general, CPR isn't really effective, I see. That was my intended question, actually.

I have performed CPR more times than I care to count... and being in a Cardiac Surgical/Transplant ICU, most of them have been fresh sternos. Those are the worst. Sternal wires and thin skin being torn apart with every press on the chest... ribs breaking and crunching, sternums seperating... its horrible. I have wires poking out of the skin. I have also cut my wrist while doing compressions (just a surface wound). We throw towels over the chest but that doesn't always soften the field. Some die, some live... either way its a lot of trauma to the body! And either way, we are still required to do it.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

OP....I am sorry about your brother.....how difficult for your family. My prayers for you and your family to find peace in your hearts.

I have done CPR....countless of times. Has it worked? sometimes. The point is when it works and you save the patient with brain cells...it is a good day. Year ago....cath lab was a high risk procedure to have. We dissected so many vessels, the balloon interventions were new and awkward, I would do CPR all the way to the OR......yes they lived and they went on to live wonderful lives. Yes it was worth it.

Thanks anyway for your compassionate nursing attitude, but he's dead by suicide. I especially like your 'when the shift is over I forget everyone' frame of mind.

I liked this because until I read later comments I thought it was sincere. Out of sight out if mine is a great attitude for this field. It is difficult to know overall outcomes because once a pt is coded on my med surg floor they either die or go to ICU. then we dont usually find out what happened. I have had 2 pts that were coded before and returned to their former state of health. one being a walkie talkie.

this was months to a year before i had them as a pt

OP....I am sorry about your brother.....how difficult for your family. My prayers for you and your family to find peace in your hearts.

Thanks for that. For what it's worth he had an interesting career. When he worked in NYC, he was assigned quite a few celebrity patients, some because he was the only 'male nurse' in the place. He was the lone male in his class, also. And in his last job (ICU, BSN), he made $50 an hour, in 1995, if that doesn't boggle your mind, with what nurses are paid nowadays?

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

OP, I am sorry about the loss of your brother.

As for CPR, I have performed it many times...and from what I can recall, no one made it. There were a few that were successfully resuscitated, intubated and placed on a vent then shipped to ICU, but they ended up coding again a few hours later and further resuscitation efforts were ineffective.

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

Maybe we should have a thread of grossest CPR stories. Mine: 92% full thickness burn in rampant DIC. Thankfully, he didn't make it. But face shields for all.

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

I've done many many bouts of CPR. Some make it, enough that it is worth trying. The ones that don't, well, we know we tried.

If they had a chance, we gave it to them.

Maybe we should have a thread of grossest CPR stories. Mine: 92% full thickness burn in rampant DIC. Thankfully, he didn't make it. But face shields for all.

I was thinking a thread of the 'most gruesome' situations anyone has encountered. I listed my own under 'burn nursing'...

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