Getting better in codes?

[amzyRN]

How have some of you overcome your nervousness and lack of fine motor skills during a code? I'm always calm but I notice that my hands shake and I feel like I am not doing my best work because of the anxiety and adrenaline. Is it just being present in as many as possible? I find it almost impossible to start an IV on someone when they are moving for compressions for example.

[nightbrightener]

This was said to me by a seasoned nurse shortly after I started, it helped me so I'll share it. Similar to the EMS statement above... "They are meat you are doing a task on, after the task is completely successfully, then consider the implications." Basically trick your mind into just doing a job, then take time to think through the code after the fact. Saying they are someones father/mother/child to yourself in the middle of a code just ensures you do your job worse. Bring your A game intellectually not emotionally. Flustered is bad, the job is not about you being a good person who feels things intensely, it is about doing interventions/tasks to save a life. Now afterwards be human towards the patient and family but in the middle of a code is not the time to get emotional. I would agree that cleaning the room after the patient is handed off or pronounced gives a few minutes to decompress and can be helpful. For me personally, getting involved at a task that is difficult focuses me, i double down and ignore distractions like blood spray and screaming.