What 2 do if u r called to a man down?

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Hello all. today i actually had an interview at a jail facility in so cal. It went well enough. i was asked ten questions (i list the ones i remember at the end of this post since they didnt ask that we not tell anyone like other agencies have done). i answered all of the them nicely except one which stumped me; i would be surprised if they called me to return, etc. the question was 'what would u do if u were called to an unconscious man down who is a known diabetic with heart problems?' or something to that effect. all i could think of was do CPR type stuff and check his blood sugar... and that was it! the interviewer kept prodding me b/c he wanted more, but i couldnt think of anything else. i am a new grad (graduated dec '10-is that still new?) who hasnt found that first nursing gig yet so i dont know if i'm starting to forget things, but i couldnt think of anything else and they moved on to the next question. so please someone out there (especially if u r in correctional nursing), what would u do if called to a man down, unconscious?

the other questions i can remember were:

-give an example of how you handled a disagreement with a co-worker.

-if u feel u r doing 60% of the work and the other nurse is only doing 40%, what do u do if anything?

-if u have an order for regular and NPH insulin, and the pre-administration readout on accucheck reads 56, what do you do?

-what can you tell us about yourself?

-where did u go to school?

-do u have experience working with people with mental issues?

-how do feel about working with people who may have violent pasts?

-what days can you work?

these r all i can remember at the moment. i visited the section on correctional nursing and the posters were right: it seems diabetes and heart conditions are prevalent issues in the correctional setting. anyway, holler back ya'll about what to do about an unconscious man down...

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

#1. Make sure the scene is cleared and safe for you to be in.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, & ED.

Call the doctor?

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

ABC's

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Specializes in Emergency, Peds ICU, NICU.

Make sure it is Safe.

Call 911/EMS

Check abc's, apply o2

Check responsiveness

Find out history and what happened from bystanders

Check for other injuries

Check a glucose (if available)

My thinking could be poss overdose if he injested something and it broke open.

Monitor and support pt until ems arrives.

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I am from So cal dec 2010 too and just barely got a job offer after more than 80 applications!

Which facility did you interview for? I applied to the California Correctional system too, but i only get responses for jobs in Solono County.....which I have never even heard of. Sounds like you did o.k. in the interview. Good luck!

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Vitals, blood sugar, have guard call station to call 911. If there's a big enough hospital unit, see if there's a protocol to ask for help from them.

If no vitals, CPR until help comes (and use a mask/ambu)

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i'd rather not say exactly except to say it was not a prison, but a jail facility in a county that borders l.a. county. back in sept, i was 'hired' by a large county run facility to be in their ICU. Passed background and physical. They said they would call with start date and never did. they have mentioned that they are waiting for a budget... oh well, so close yet so far... i have a bachelors degree in an unrelated subject so i am actually kind of beginning the process of applying to a school for occupational therapy (masters) since the way its going, i may never see the inside of a medical facility otherwise (i have NO medical experience other than what i did in nursing school). The OT field right now is the way nursing used to be: they are desperate! i should know; my wife is one and she is constantly hounded by recruiters... but with my luck, by the time i finish, that field will also be impacted by budget constraints, etc. one day at a time...

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Don't give up on finding a nursing job! Sounds like you are at least getting interviews which many people from my class haven't even gotten there yet. Just keep applying, applying, applying and the right job will find you.

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thank you for the words of support. i havent given up on nursing; im just putting out the feelers for the OT field. The school i am applying does require 80 hrs volunteer time with a licensed OT so we'll see. anyway, thanks again and i'll you and everyone posted on if i hear anything. they said they would make calls on tuesday...

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Hello all. today i actually had an interview at a jail facility in so cal. It went well enough. i was asked ten questions (i list the ones i remember at the end of this post since they didnt ask that we not tell anyone like other agencies have done). i answered all of the them nicely except one which stumped me; i would be surprised if they called me to return, etc. the question was 'what would u do if u were called to an unconscious man down who is a known diabetic with heart problems?' or something to that effect. all i could think of was do CPR type stuff and check his blood sugar... and that was it! the interviewer kept prodding me b/c he wanted more, but i couldnt think of anything else. i am a new grad (graduated dec '10-is that still new?) who hasnt found that first nursing gig yet so i dont know if i'm starting to forget things, but i couldnt think of anything else and they moved on to the next question. so please someone out there (especially if u r in correctional nursing), what would u do if called to a man down, unconscious?

I love this question! I have responded to man-down calls like the above. Once, it was an inmate who was diabetic and had heart disease, and he was unconscious. The officers were yelling, "he's diabetic!" I saw his pinpoint pupils, agonal respirations, and I ripped his shirt back and saw the track mark. I had to give him narcan really, really fast and got the officers performing CPR while I got the narcan on board. Brought him back. In the above, I didn't even take precious few seconds to check blood glucose level because I saw pinpoint pupils and found the track mark. I instructed the officers to start CPR, started the IV, pushed narcan, and then I checked blood glucose to make sure he did not need D50.

The issues are that you must follow your ABCs (or CAB now :rolleyes:) and be aware an unconscious diabetic or patient with heart disease may have something else going on unique to the prison population, like an OD. You follow an algorithm in your head.

The questions you were asked are excellent. The question about what do you do if another nurse isn't working like you do is very relevant. It hits on a problem unique to correctional nursing - lack of patient assignments like in acute care and nurses sharing workloads. Or not.

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thank u for that post! i anticipate getting similar questions if and when i am called to interview at another correctional institution, so again, i appreciate your post.

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