cardiac arrest

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What is the First thing a nursing student at clinical is expected to do if she happens to walk into a room and find Patient in cardiac arrest?

I am scared to death this is going to happen to me and I am just going to panic.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

The facility may benefit from the use of DNR bands. Once the order is on the chart, the bracelet goes on. Id probably still have someone confirm the DNR status in the case of emergencies, but this can help at a glance. :twocents:

And to the person who said to still call for help (ie Code Team) with a DNR patient...I have to ask why? What are they going to do?

Specializes in Cardiac ICU.

Don't panic as much as possible. There are more than enough staff to help you if you witness this. Chest compressions should start as soon as you see the patient. Know where your crash cart is stored.

It's easy to forget if the patient is DNR or FULL CODE. Make sure you write down the code status for quick reference. In my facility it gets tricky because some patients' codes are neither DNR or FULL. The have something called partial: no intubation but ok for chest compressions, vasopressors only, no chest compressions but intubation ok, etc.

When you get assigned a patient for clinicals, definitely know their status.

You'll be fine because there is always help.

Specializes in ..

The patient's code status should be on the handover sheet. The handover sheet should be in your pocket.

At least, that's how it's worked when I've done clinical/where I've worked.

Panic or being frozen in place is a normal human response sometimes.

The military understands this, and this is why soldiers are drilled over and over again until a proper response becomes nearly automatic. The natural response to flying bullets is to run the other way, right?

I like to mentally imagine what I would do under certain emergency situations, that is how I drill/practice. I imagine the "what if" scenarios.

The more real experience, the better you silence your panic button and respond.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

If the patient is a DNR, do not yell CODE BLUE. Within minutes, the Code Team would arrive and be pretty pissed to find out the patient is DNR and you are going against the patients wishes. We had a med student one time run out to the nurses station yelling "code red" and i just looked at him and realized he meant Code Blue for a patient in the room he just came out of. First of all, KNOW YOUR CODE COLORS!!! Second, the patient ended up being a DNR and died within minutes (PE). If you're a nursing student, try to find out in the begining of your assigment the code status for all of your patients for the day, a very critical part of hand-off report.

Specializes in ER/Trauma, Corrections, Consulting.

First, make sure they're in distress. Don't embarass yourself by calling for help on a heavy sleeper! (I've had medical residents do that!!) Second, know their code status. If a DNR you have to know what kind, i.e. no CPR, no defib, no tube, etc. Third, GO GET HELP from a nurse. Fourth, jump in and help. Just don't over-react, please. You never live that down. I over-reacted as a new nurse at a prison and called a "signal 3" (prison's version of Code Blue) on a seizure that was post-ictal, no where NEAR dead. I was called "Signal 3" for 5 years until I actually saved someone's life there :)

thanks, that helps! I don't if I was more afraid of panicking and freezing or over-reacting!

And to the person who said to still call for help (ie Code Team) with a DNR patient...I have to ask why? What are they going to do?

This is why I asked, because that was what I thought as well... but when I did have a DNR patient code as a student, I hurried to the hall and flagged down another nurse and told her what was happening... she said "girl, you don't walk out all calm, you start hollering for help!" So, hence, how I got confused... didn't think we would NEED to call for help on a DNR patient, but evidently they wanted me to :confused: After I graduated, I got a job in that facility, but never ran into that situation again (only lost 1 other DNR patient during that time, and the doc just happened to be in the room when it happened).

Thanks for helping clear up the confusion :)

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