i was the ccu day shift charge nurse for about a year -- probably a big mistake to take that job, but i digress. it was a sunday afternoon, and the engineering department was changing out the old generator for a new one. to do so, they lifted the old one out by a crane, and then lowered the new one into place. in the meantime, the back-up generator was supposed to provide power to our sector of the hospital. not the whole hospital, just the or, er , both icus and the cath lab.
engineering went around to all the nursing units to make sure that we were prepared by having all essential equipment plugged into the red plugs. we should have had it plugged into the red plugs anyway, but as i made my rounds to check, it inevitably seems that there are a few things that weren't plugged into the red emergency outlets: the odd balloon pump or two, a ventilator, some iv pumps and a defibrillator. but with plenty of warning, i was ready for the emergency generator to go on-line.
at the appointed time, the emergency generator went on-line. moments later, it went back off line. the lights went out. it was really, really dark in the nurse's station when the lights went out, the monitors went off and even the telephones went dead. we all waited for the emergency generator to come back on, but it didn't. and didn't. and didn't.
some of the ventilators had battery power, but it didn't last long. all of us carried little penlights in our pockets for checking pupil responses, and almost in unison seven penlights went on and we made for the patients. there were only two rts between the two icus and more ventilators than there were nurses. the balloon pump died, and someone had to inflate and deflate the balloon every thirty minutes or so. the dialysis machine failed and we had to hand pump the blood back into the patient and disconnect him by flashlight. i wanted to call more people in to help me, but the phone system didn't work. this was when cellphones had first come out, were hideously and prohibitively expensive and the size of a briefcase. no one had one except the wealthiest physicians.
when our medical director walked in the main door of the lobby (for what exactly i never did find out) i was in the lobby payphone with a stack of quarters, trying to call in extra help to bag ventilator patients and shine flashlights on wounds for dressing changes. he took it upon himself to take over the phone calls so i could go back to the unit to help out.
eventually the lights did come back on, and we didn't lose any patients. and i learned that when both the main generator and the back-up generator go off line, the thing to do is call the fire department -- they'll bring their portable generators and extra long extension cords to string from the parts of the hospital that did have power to the parts that did not.
come on and share your stories! i'm sure someone can top this one.
Wow, I can't top that one but my nursing instructor can. As we were learning about vents she shared her story. She was working in icu, power went out, generator failed, total darkness. She had two pts. On vents one was 90 the other was a younger in 20's. She had to decide which life to save and she chose the younger pt. The 90 year old passed. Happened years ago, the story was amazing and she shared how the nurses really had to work as a team. Kudos to you ruby, and your nursing team.
Oh my. Bless her and I hope the aftermath of her decision didn't weigh heavily on her brave shoulders.:redpinkhe
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
This happend to us once when the basement of the hospital flooded where all the mechanical was. The back up generator flooded so we had no back up at all. Had to bag all the patients. One patient was on the IABP and expired. Had to move all the critical patients out to other facilities. It was a mess. After that, they moved all the mechanical out of the basement.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
this happend to us once when the basement of the hospital flooded where all the mechanical was. the back up generator flooded so we had no back up at all. had to bag all the patients. one patient was on the iabp and expired. had to move all the critical patients out to other facilities. it was a mess. after that, they moved all the mechanical out of the basement.
omg! why did the hospital flood? hurricane? sounds like you had a worse time than i did.
PhoenixTech, LPN
279 Posts
Oh my. Bless her and I hope the aftermath of her decision didn't weigh heavily on her brave shoulders.:redpinkhe