Code Blue

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What code have you run that stands out in your mind the most?

Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
Years ago doing my pre-requisites I was talking to an EMT who said they always hated it when the family member answered the door and when asked, "where's the patient" they reply, "Oh, he just went to the bathroom". Instant horror and "No, it (the bathroom need) can wait! Let's go!". They most likely had to try to resuscitate many of these calls.

That would explain why the firefighters freaked out and burst into the bathroom on me when I was having an asthma attack. (I was done, thank god). They were freaking out!

The most memorable codes I was involved in were to unique to talk about (there were two). Well, except for one. Had to code a woman who was 103. Her family just refused to accept that at 103, we weren't going to get her back. We had to do CPR on her until EMS showed up (this was in LTC). They coded her for the required amount of time and stopped. All told, it was nearly an hour. We were not happy.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
Had to code a woman who was 103. Her family just refused to accept that at 103, we weren't going to get her back. We had to do CPR on her until EMS showed up (this was in LTC). They coded her for the required amount of time and stopped. All told, it was nearly an hour. We were not happy.

That's so sad and wrong.

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Specializes in kids.

Blessed not have been a part of any (school nurse) but witnessed CPR at an MVA last year...I knew the victim, and the repsonders. Awful.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
We had CNA's helping in ICU. A patient coded. A resident who was vertically challenged asked the CNA to get him a stool, (to stand on, he was all excited to start compressions). The patient had very recently pooped. You guessed it, the CNA got the dirty diaper out of the trash and brought it to the intern.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Perhaps the strangest code took place several years ago in a bog. Belinda and I were on vacation and had bicycled to this park. I was walking around on one side of the park when a Fella called out "Anyone know CPR?!" I sloshed through the water to find a Guy doing compressions on an unconscious Man lying in a couple inches of water on a sandbar. Another Fella was at the head of the unconscious Man, but not in the position to give ventilations. Several People were just standing around.

I identified myself as a Nurse and began giving ventilations, mouth to mouth. The Guy doing compressions said he was a Medic and that his friend had collapsed and was found to be in cardiac arrest.

During CPR, I felt the Victim's head move. I said to stop compressions, sat back, and saw his head move back and forth. The Guy who was at the head of the Victim had stuck his hands under the Victim's head and was moving it! I asked, "Are you moving his head?! Stop it!" The Guy replied "I'm a Medic!" I checked the carotid, found no pulse, and we resumed CPR.

In the meantime, 911 had been called and a Life Guard from the park brought a backboard. We ceased CPR, log rolled the Victim, got him on the board, and then resumed CPR.

EMS drove up and started out toward us. A couple of Guys started to pick up the backboard and I said, "Do not cease CPR!" and resumed compressions. One of the Guys pushed me away from the victim and into the water. They picked up the backboard and started toward the shore. The Guys from EMS saw them coming in with the victim and turned around to walk back to shore!

Weird, right?

Belinda had stayed at the restaurant when I went wandering around the park and came to the area when she heard the sirens. I told her what had happened and had to have her give me a reality check!

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That is inexplicable and totally (Twilight Zone) weird!

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I had a bizarre realization when I was doing compressions during a code in surgery. Here I was singing that stupid "ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive" song in my head. When we switched out and I stepped back for a bit, I heard the radio playing on the speaker in the OR suite...I sh*t you not, it was playing "another one bites the dust"... and darned if it isn't the same beat/tempo! So, with that evil little nugget of knowledge, i bid you good night. Sometimes we just have to find the humor in things to press through all the incredibly tough, heartbreaking, maddening moments we as nurses have to endure.

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The old man who coded in the bathroom and we were all skating around in bloody poop.

Oh yeah, been there done that. Took 3 of us to get him on the bed. Still wondering why we bothered.

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Specializes in ED.

I used to have a ring tone that had Monty Python's "always look on the bright side of life". One morning right at 4am, a code was coming through the door and wouldn't you know it I set my alarm which was set for 4am. Still not sure if anyone heard or even remembers Monty Python anymore though.

The last guy I helped code was diabetic, copd, with end stage renal disease and dialysis so we knew it wasn't going to end well for him. But the physicians present were not going to stop at anything and emptied 2 crash carts trying to save him because he kept coming back. I think we started coding him over again like 5 times over 1.5 hours.

Two heroin addicts that come to mind. One was given narcan, vomited, aspirated and coded unsuccessfully. The other one was pregnant 5 months along before she even knew she was pregnant. Used up every vein she had so started shooting in her neck. Came to us in septic shock and died a day later.

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

The one that was actually in the middle of the road (dispatch told us that he was in the residence) and I almost hit the state trooper after he slammed on his brakes in front of me.

The one that the lady was wearing a hoodie and facing away from me, I thought It was a homeless person sleeping until I saw the fly sitting on her eyeball. I had already put my hand on her shoulder to wake her up, if was the first time I got nauseous during patient care.

The one that we recovered and was complaining in full sentences by the time we got to the hospital.

The one when the trauma coordinator was telling me how good I did as primary on a traumatic arrest and asked how long I'd been work at that ED, she was quite unhappy when I told her I was doing my practicum (my preceptor was with me the whole time).

The one that I intubated through the bloody emesis and THEN the family decided to tell us that the patient was on hospice, but that they still wanted us to try to save him. Doc did a cardiac ultrasound when we got the ED and called it.

The one when the patient was talking to me and then suddenly lost consciousness and had no pulses, it was the first time someone actually died in front of me who wasn't a withdraw of life support.

The one when I got a phone call from a remote site to override a POC CBC machine because it wouldn't show the white cell differential during their code. It was like having a conversation with a very sturdy brick wall.

The one that lasted so long we had to break open a second code cart for more supplies, and then pharmacy had to get even more bicarb and epi out of the pyxis.

Pretty much every pediatric code.

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The time the security guard in the professional office building coded and fell off his chair in between the sliding glass doors. We had to code him with the motion sensing doors being activated and they kept opening and closing. I was 7 months pregnant with my twins and on my knees doing chest compressions. We got him back and he ended up having open heart surgery that day.

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