Had my first code last night

I work on a pediatric airway unit, and the charge nurse got sick about two hours into the shift, so I took over as relief charge by seniority. PICU is right across the hall so I felt secure in that. It was only my second time being relief charge nurse. At around 230 in the morning a nurse calls HELP and I was only about two doors down. I ran over and flipped the light on and the kid was in clear respiratory arrest and a color of blue I never want to see on anyone ever again. They were on the monitor and in the 40's O2Sat. I yelled out to call a code (still not believing this was actually happening) and then my PALS training took over and I took appropriate actions as the team leader. I am normally not that assertive but somehow I became so in this situation and was calling out orders. The patient was able to be revived and recovered well.

I am only a 2 year nurse and although I feel I am well trained with the patients on my floor, I never have done a code before. Sometimes when I'm about to fall asleep, I picture different code scenarios on my unit and reheorifice how I would react with a patient in a room on my unit, where all the supplies were and so on. I really, really think that's what helped me keep it together and make the right choices. I felt I was just acting out what I had reheorificed. I know skills can get rusty and most people only take PALS or ALS once every two years. I would encourage nurses to try mentally rehearsing scenarios on a regular basis with their PALS or ALS material. It saved a child's life because I was doing this.