BrittaLeigh313

Always keep your CPR up to date. While this is something your facility should remind you of, do keep up with it yourself as well. Recently, American Heart Association says it's 30 compressions, breathe, breathe and then another round of 30 compressions. In a properly-stocked hospital room, an Ambu bag should be within reach. It's the plastic balloon with the mask. Always know where your critical supplies is located. Usually in an emergency setting, you just keep doing compressions for 2 minutes while Respiratory Therapy bags the patient until the doctor calls for a pulse check. Glad I could help. You'll never forget Stayin' Alive, that's for sure. Britta

Hey, hon! Congratulations on the hire! You'll get some invaluable experience as a CNA. Just never forget when you're a nurse, that you were once a CNA. I'm a CNAII in the emergency department of a Level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital that's in the national top 10 (not bragging, just stating). In my previous job as a float pool CNAI in a very small community hospital, I was an onlooker/runner. Now, in my ED, we NAs are what I call the CPR brigade. The running joke is "If you're not breaking ribs, you're not doing it right!" We have a trauma/resuscitation area so all our equipment, the AED, and the code drugs are at hand. But anywhere else, grab the crash cart and yell for people to get out of the way. We do the chest compressions and when it's July and we have new students/interns/residents we instruct them on how to do properly do compressions on an actual person. (I love hearing the doctors tell noobs, "These girls know what they're doing; listen to them.") Things to remember (on adults): *The longer the code, the more distended and and air-filled the abdomen gets, the harder the compressions get. *Screw the "thirty compressions to one breath" in a hospital code. Just keep going. Someone else can worry about the lungs. *The tempo of CPR is (not even joking here) "Ah-ah-ah-ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive." You'll never feel prouder than when you have your hands over that heart, the doctor orders you to hold CPR and has everyone do a pulse check, and you hear the words, "We have a pulse." Good luck, hon. I hope this helps. Remember the Bee Gees! "Ah-ah-ah-ah...." LOL! BrittaLeigh313