The first code blue I ever participated in was at my first nursing job, while I was still in orientation. The patient was not mine. It was an older woman with breast implants. The nurses in the room were mocking the patient bc of her breast implants and old age, and I felt strange, at the lack of seriousness, in this very serious setting. I had participated in many other code rescues before but the code blue was scary. I awkwardly stood back while the experienced nurses did their thing, and then one of the charge nurses told me to do compressions on the patient while the other nurse rested. I was so caught up with the adrenaline and making sure to give good compressions that I failed to notice I had cut my wrist with a bracelet I was wearing from how hard the pressure was during the compressions!!! Luckily, I had gloves. Whew!
The patient did not make it.
After the code, my preceptor and I got back to business.. Well at least my preceptor did, and all that time, I was just thinking to myself, "wow, I just gave compressions to a dead person, and they didn't make it"... I felt pretty sad the rest of the shift. This was the first dead patient I had seen It took me a couple days to get over it, but I felt overwhelmed by the whole thing...
What about you guys.. What was your first code blue like?
It took me a couple days to get over it, but I felt overwhelmed by the whole thing...