code blue question

See if your hospital offers the following:

EKG interpretation class

ACLS class (take the EKG class first, then the two day ACLS class)

After taking these two classes, you should feel a little more confident and knowledgeable.

If EVER in doubt, simply call for help "I need help in here" means "my patient is about to code" in my unit. All nurses in the vicinity come to your aid and one of them is usually pulling the crash cart with him/her. Find out what phrase is commonly used to let your coworkers know that you've got a "situation" which needs immediate assessment/action.

Good luck.

Good rule of thumb is if YOU THINK you need to call a code...then by all means do so...if your wrong...oh well no harm done, however if you don't call a code when you should have then the patient is not going to have a very good day!!!

this is so true. better to be safe than sorry.

Umm...you may want to read a bit more...it is phyiscally impossible to be breathing and have no pulse....FYI...

Good rule of thumb is if YOU THINK you need to call a code...then by all means do so...if your wrong...oh well no harm done, however if you don't call a code when you should have then the patient is not going to have a very good day!!!

Actually, I've had a kid breathe with no pulse. Before I've questioned if I could bag a kid up or hit the button...this time I just hit the button. I didn't even know where it was in the room prior to it but somehow my body just flew to it and I hit it and started compressions. Less than 30 secs later everyone was ready (I was in isolation with the door closed...hard to yell for help there, especially when you don't have a podmate!)

Oh they were breathing ...just no pulse. Very ODD.

Actually, I've had a kid breathe with no pulse. Before I've questioned if I could bag a kid up or hit the button...this time I just hit the button. I didn't even know where it was in the room prior to it but somehow my body just flew to it and I hit it and started compressions. Less than 30 secs later everyone was ready (I was in isolation with the door closed...hard to yell for help there, especially when you don't have a podmate!)

NeoNurse...absolutely 100% impossible to have NO PULSE and BREATHE...you are dead....dead people do not breathe!!

Make sure you survey each of your rooms when you go into assess your patients. Make sure you have an ambu bag, regulators for O2 and suction with a suction set up ready to go. Locate your code button (unfortunately ours are in different locations in the rooms). Also, does your hospital have a rapid response team? Look at the policy and see what the guidelines are for calling one. Many times a nurses "spidey sense" tells her the patient just doesn't look right. Often times a code can be avoided by calling a Rapid Response instead.

Take the refresher BLS (or better yet an ACLS course) that was recommended so when you walk into a room and they aren't breathing, you have an idea what to do first and won't panic.

NeoNurse...absolutely 100% impossible to have NO PULSE and BREATHE...you are dead....dead people do not breathe!!

I saw it with my own eyes. And the same thing happened to the nurse that had the patient the shift before me. Granted, the breathing didn't last much longer, but it happened.

I saw it with my own eyes. And the same thing happened to the nurse that had the patient the shift before me. Granted, the breathing didn't last much longer, but it happened.

The child could have had a pulse that was just not easily discernible.

it was previously mentioned in this post that in children you can have no resps and still have a pulse and i have bagged many infants/children while administering nebs back to breathing. the window for this is small so i agree with you...call a code to get help because if you don't intervene you will lose the pulse.....on children that is especially bad....

esme12, neonurse was saying that the child was breathing yet had no pulse, not the other way around as you are discussing.

Agonal breaths do not count as breathing. If you are ventilating, you have a pulse.

I saw it with my own eyes. And the same thing happened to the nurse that had the patient the shift before me. Granted, the breathing didn't last much longer, but it happened.

It is not that I doubt your story however it is I doubt the actual hemodynamics. Your patient's heart was beating if they were breathing...There might have been no discernable peripheral pulse yet that does not mean the heart was not beating. Again, unless you are not human it is 100% physically impossible to breathe when your heart is not beating. Please do not confuse the OP by saying this can occur because it can not and does not happen. Dead people do not breathe...We could easily get into the dynamics of what constitutes a pulse and breathing however for the purpose of just making things clear....just keep it simple....no pulse=no heartbeat....no heartbeat=no breathing.....

Not trying to debunk your story however unless your patient was in witnessed aystole/PEA/V-fib AND BREATHING then most likely the heart was still beating just not strong enough to elicit a peripheral pulse.