a question about cardiac arrest w/asystole!

Nurses General Nursing

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let me say,that i am very fascinated with CRP and life/death. my neighbor has been a ER/ICU RN for over 35 years at a major hospital. i have asked him if in his long line of work has he ever seen a patient who presented with an initial rhythm of asystole get discharged from the hospital. he told me that he only remembers one such case and it was a 21 yr. old male who had hyperkalemia and went into asystole,and eventually was able to get a ROSC and get discharged from the hospital. i am curious,have any of you had a patient/patients who presented with asystole and were discharged from the hospital?? thanks very much.

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Specializes in ER.

After asystole I have not seen anyone leave the room, let alone the hospital. I've heard of it with hypothermia, but never seen it.

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I've never seen it. A similar question came up once at a club meeting for my college class and none of the nursing professors had seen it either and they have all worked at level one trauma centers.

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I wouldn't want to come back from that.... having a heartbeat isn't the same as having a life. IMO

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

Only on a helicopter. And that did not turn out well.

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

In 15 years of ICU and ED, never have seen it.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Yes.....cold water drowning......Chicago River....a little boy.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

Not sure if this one counts but.. had a MVA, asystole when EMS arrived for an unknown amount of time. Came to us, a trauma unit and after a month and a half, he went home.. He was in his 50's with a long list of injuries from the wreck.

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Yes, several times.

Seen it with mostly HD/PD patients w/ electrolyte issues. Couple trach patients too.

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Asystole is most common arrest rhythm in dogs and cats (and human peds too), in contrast to v fib in adults. We see this rhythm (or lack of) frequently and while are able to get ROSC, I'd say only 1/10 leave the ICU.

I have only seen a handful in my career actually survive to discharge.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Am I the only one concerned about allnurses.com being a source of information for a layperson "fascinated with life/death"?

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Am I the only one concerned about allnurses.com being a source of information for a layperson "fascinated with life/death"?

After "Criminal Minds" last Wednesday, it does raise a few questions ..... :eek:

(no accusations to this OP necessarily....just comes up)

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