First Code Pink

[megan005]

Hi ladies, I just graduated this June and started working in L&D in July. My orientation finished this week and I was on my own for the first time. Last night I had a pt who ended up going to the OR for a STAT section and we had to call a code pink and do a full resuscitation on the baby.

It was the first time one of my pt's had to go for a STAT section, the first time I have seen General Anesthesia used and the first time I have been involved in a Code pink.

Since I haven't been OR trained yet I had to hand off my pt to another nurse and I felt kind of useless in the OR ( I did things I could like hang meds and the catheter) and I helped with the resuscitation. I'm feeling kinda overwhelmed and I'm not sure if this is normal.

Any advice on how you guys deal with things after a stressful shift?

[klone, MSN, RN]

Whoa, Code Pink means something WAY different at your hospital than it means at any hospital I've ever worked at! Everywhere I've ever worked, Code Pink is an infant abduction.

I'm sorry this happened. Have you been certified in NRP yet? Does your unit do "debriefing" meetings when you have resuscitations?

[Amistad, RN]

It sounds like you did exactly what you should have since you are not OR trained yet. Congratulate yourself for helping out in your first code pink! I'm also a new grad and I had my first code blue the other day... I only helped out with meds, but I was still kinda shell shocked afterwards.

[Katie71275]

Code Pink is infant/child abduction here too! Congrats on making it through. I'm a new nurse and on L&D and every day is something new. As for the OR....are you being trained to scrub and circulate? We train as both and I still get anxious about scrubbing, but I know it will be good to know.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

First time is always scary and unfamiliar. You pitched in and helped- and learned a LOT I'll wager!

And Code Pink is infant/ child abduction in my part of the world too. I was really thrown by the title of the thread. (Our last Code Pink involved a rather burly teenage football player who thought it would be 'cute' to disappear from a locked peds unit while- he forgot- wearing a security bracelet. He will never live down his teammates razzing him about being a 'code pink'!)

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

I second the posters above, I thought this thread would be about an abducted infant! Never happened in our hospital, although the Hugs tags we use go off erroneously at least once per shift. Super annoying.

It is extremely normal to feel overwhelmed after witnessing a newborn resuscitation. On my mother/baby unit, we recently had a newborn demise. Mom had been holding her baby in her arms for at least 30 minutes without noticing the baby had turned blue and cold. (We initially assumed baby had been smothered, preliminary autopsy results have shown it was actually some type of extremely rare metabolic disorder). Anyway, we really never have Code Blues (as we call them), so 4 of our nurses were running the code until the code team arrived, and I know it was an extremely emotional few days for our staff. They had a huge debriefing and brought in counselors for staff to talk to. I know the nurses all felt like they could have done a better job during the resuscitation, because it's just not something we have experience with, though we're all NRP certified.

Don't beat yourself up. But finding someone to talk to about what happened can be helpful.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Our child abduction is a code Adam...I thought that was universal lol And my hospital is the original Code Pink place :)

It is rough that first time, your unit should do a debriefing to go over what happened, especially if you don't have this happen often. It is really scary in the DR, even for us NICU people since we like t be "home" with all our stuff around us! And I am sure you weren't worthless, everyone has a part, no matter how small you think it is!

[klone, MSN, RN]

The only places I've ever heard of Code Adam is at department stores.

[SaoirseRN]

We don't have a code pink at all. Our abduction is a code yellow or a code yellow-infant (not a yellow infant!). An infant needing resuscitation would be a code blue just like any other code blue.

[megan005]

Thanks for all your support guys! I called one of the nurses who trained me and talked with her, it really helped. I'm in Canada and we use Code Pink for any new resuscitation. The NICU nurses and a pediatrician come vs. Code Blue were ICU nurses and physician responds. Missing child in Code Amber.

[eden]

I'm in Canada too but code pink is infant abduction here as well. Glad you survived your first code.