Cardiac Arrest - ALONE

[punkstar]

So two days ago our ED gets three cardiac arrests coming in and I'm left with one all to myself with two residents and a trauma surgeon being present! It was definitely a first and was rather overwhelming, at least the documentation part of it. I was able to function as a the medication nurse with the crash cart, and get hands on with CPR and the pacer, but with all that going on I always seem to lose it with documentation and in keeping track of times of when medications were given, etc. Where were my other nurses! *sigh*

[zamboni]

Something I used to do on the ambulance was jot the time on the box (epi, atropine, etc..) as I was opening it. Can't do that with vials or ampules, but since most of the meds come in boxes, you have a pretty good idea where the others fit in.

When I first started as medic (about one month into my career), we caught a call for a chest pain in a little outlaying town that was about 25 minutes from the hospital. When I got there, it was a full code. I called for backup and a couple of volunteer firefighters showed up. Unfortunately, it was the night of a bachelor party in town and well...even scared to death, I knew I couldn't use them in that condition. So I had to work this patient solo in the back for the whole way to the hospital. Not fun at all...but it did wonders for my confidence!