how long should CPR last for asystole/PEA?

Nurses General Nursing

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i don't want to make this a long story,but i want to know if proper action was taken. a month ago,my mom had a heart attack and i called 911 and she was in the hospital. 5 days later,she had an angioplasty. she was 70 yrs old and deemed to be in poor heart health along with diabetes. the very next day after the angioplasty,the stents closed up and she ended up having a major heart attack which i witnessed in her room. she went into cardiac arrest and i quickly called a nurse. they called the code and i left because i was so scared. she ended up dying 2 hrs after. i was finally able to obtain some of the code blue notes. i am guessing that the arrest that i witnessed she went into V-fib because once she got to the ICU,they gave her amiodarone. now,once she got to the ICU,only 20 minutes passed and the nurse there noticed a frothy pink liquid coming from her ETT. her O2 saturation and heart rate began to drop fast and she went into asystole. they called another code and i have those notes. they did chest compressions and gave her epi. times 3 and atropine. they were able to regain a pulse and O2 saturation. 10 minutes later,there was more frothy pink liquid from the ETT and she went into asystole again. they did compressions and gave epi and atropine. it is noted that they did chest compressions for 9 mins and the only rhythm was PEA. she was pulseless,breathless and had no carotid pulse. it said that her pupils were fixated and dilated and the doctor declared her dead. now,can anyone please answer,with the information given,could they have given more injections and done chest compressions for 10 more mins? could they have opened her chest and tried something there? could they have given vasopressin? it was a sudden death,because her doctor and cardiologist said that day that she was fine and i still can not get over it. has any nurse here witnessed a patient be resuscitated after more that 10 mins in asystole/PEA? sorry for the long post,but i have no family and i need to know if they did everything in their power to keep her alive.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

BTDT with a situation. They will close this thread. All I can offer is a big hug for your loss. :hug:

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

I am so sorry for your loss...

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Specializes in ED, Clinical Documentation.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

I am sorry for your loss.

I have seen someone resuscitated after 10 minutes, only to have them code again and eventually pass. The fact is that most patients that code have a very poor prognosis and more times than not, do not make it. Sure they could have done chest compressions and given drugs until the cows came home, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome because the longer the code the poorer the chance of a getting them back.

The thing with PEA is you need to identify the underlying cause and correct it to get the patient out of the PEA. However some of the underlying causes, such as a thrombus (lung or heart), can be identified as the cause but very little can be done.

All I can offer you are my condolences, my father recently passed away so I know how much it hurts and not much is going to help except for time. Talk to someone if you need, but try to focus on the good memories you have of your mother.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

Sorry about your loss. There's no answer to your question. It's clinical judgement. My children know I'm adamant about not wanting to have to die over and over. I hope you find peace.

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I am sorry for your loss. I lost my father to cardiac arrest when he was only 57.

No one likes to lose a patient. They kept trying to get her back, but for whatever reason, her body just couldn't sustain life any more. It is a terrible feeling of defeat when coding is unsuccessful, because that's not the outcome we want. Pronouncing someone dead is not something that anyone wants to do, or does lightly. I know that you wanted her to live, more than anything; that comes through in your question.

Without giving medical advice, and I want to say this as gently as possible, the fact that her pupils were fixed and dilated would indicate that her brain had sustained significant, serious, irrevocable injury. It sounds like no amount of chest compressions and drugs would have made a difference. Opening someone's chest and doing cardiac massage is an extreme intervention that doesn't happen very often at all even when someone is in much better general health than your mother was.

The code documentation is a mere footnote in your mother's story; the real story is the life she led and the things she cared about. Try to carry that with you as you seek healing.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

Nobody, i'm sorry for your loss but you have been told in 3 other posts that we CANNOT give out medical advice. We are not lawyers or physicians. Please seek appropriate resources if you have questions about whether or not your mother received proper resuscitative care. You're breaking our hearts with your sad questions and we feel terrible that we can't answer them, but we will NOT give out medical or legal advice.

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BonewaxRN..thanks for telling me that,now i know that really nothing could have been done. it was really my fault. i should have never agreed to do the angioplasty. this is why i will never ever have any kind of procedure done on me. the risks are minimal,but,they do happen and i was a witness to it.

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No, nobody067, it was not your fault. You made the best decision you could at the time. I urge you to seek some counseling and guidance while you process your mother's death.

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My best friend lost her mom and did the exact same thing you are doing. She went over the record over and over again. She had all her nurse and doctor friends look at her mom's strips and analyze them over and over again.

She blamed herself over and over again.

But she didn't do it.

You didn't do it.

She, now, would be the first to tell you so and she knows what she's talking about.

Please be sure to speak to someone who can help you process.

Take care and you are in all our thoughts, to be sure.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine.

My condolences for your loss.

There is no way we can give medical advice that might have legal implications. If you think there was impropriety then you need to speak to a lawyer.

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