Did I help or hurt him???? :(

[Misslady113]

I am a c.n.a/ starting nursing student and I got my first taste of some critical care tonight. Long story short a young boy got shot on my block and I ran to the scene to help him(couldn't help it, I was the only one). Gunshot wound to the head and everyone was panicked. I turned him to his side to help him breathe,but someone told me not to do it, so I don't know if that was right. I asked some of his friends for some shirts and applied pressure to his head to stop the bleeding. It helped alot and for 15 min i held on to that boy, talking to him telling him to hold on while taking his pulse.I'm just shaking and freaked out right now. I was just hoping to hear that I followed the right procedures and what else could I have done maybe to make it better? I also tried to raise his head up off the ground hoping the blood would flow a bit downwards..... I don't know if I did the right thing. This boys blood was all over my hands and I have no cuts but also wondering what's my risk for exposure . I hope I did the right thing..his pulse was fading when he went into the ambulance. I hope he makes it.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Thank you for being responsible. I wish there were more people like you. As for the few who have lectured you about what you should or should not have done; ignore them!

She asked for our feedback. Keeping oneself safe when responding to an emergency is not merely about preserving one's own life but also about not adding to the body count and becoming another patient or victim to be rescued. I think reminding the OP to consider her own safety is responsible, and I also think commending her for being responsible suggests that she has a duty to risk her life to help another, which is not fair.

To madsmom1.... it was very traumatizing. I think the worst part wasn't seeing him or all the mess but the utter despair and hopelessness and shock of his friends when he got shot. They were hysterical and in their minds that was it.... their friend was dead in that moment, just like that. Like they never thought he might have a chance and they just left him there. Without a person to hold his hand or just say something to him. It was heartbreaking. To walk in the street and still see his blood stained on the ground is heartbreaking. Whenever I see a puddle it almost brings me to tears. I guess at work when someone dies its just so different than being there in the moment this boys life was almost taken and having to see his familiar face and those I know and to go through the aftermath with these people and look out my window and see his blood. Last night it rained and I watched his blood get wet again and start going down the street. I am traumatized and thank you so much for recognizing that.

I find that the case too, that the fear and anguish of the family members is far worse than the loss or anticipated loss of the patient. I work in a pediatric ER, and SIDS patients are tough, not because they are usually beyond help when they come to us, but because of the wrenching grief of the family. I thought, when I did post mortem care on an infant for the first time, that her face would stay with me forever. But it hasn't...what stays are the faces of the grieving parents, their questions during (what I know to be and what they don't yet know to be) a futile resuscitation attempt.

And when it's related to violence, I think that adds an extra layer of emotional trauma.

I agree with finding someone to talk to about what happened: if this happened in an ER while you were working, you'd have the opportunity of critical incident debriefing (hopefully). And at the very least, you'd have coworkers who experienced it too to lean on and talk it through with. This was a critical incident. What you are doing, questioning whether you did the right thing and what you could do better....those are normal reactions to a critical incident. Your reaction to the blood on the street....that is normal. Needing to talk to someone to process what happened- completely and totally normal.