Code Blue

"Kristina your patient is acting funny, get in the room quick"

so I ran, down the hospital hall.

My clipboard fell spewing my papers from the day - papers with information about my 5 patients who I had already discharged, and my three new patients that I was just admitting - all across this patient's room.  I didn't think to set this clipboard outside, I had a one track mind...get into this room.

And when I finally got in there, I had a moment.  I wished I was back in nursing school at Mt. Hood Community College, in that simulation room, the one that I always dreaded.  The one that was safe, where you could make mistakes and learn from them, and you had a teacher debriefing about what you should do/should have done.  But I wasn't there, I was the nurse, his nurse, and I had to do something.

I froze.

Think Kristina.

This patient was just fine less than 4 minutes ago, I was just in there trying to do an admission assessment.  Trying to figure out who this patient is, who to call in case of an emergency, figuring out what sort of allergies this patient has, seeing if they are a code or DNR...

Now I am here, staring at this patient.

I look and feel for a pulse.  Nothing.  No breaths, no respirations, ashen face.

I hit the code button...

Someone asks, "is this a real code?" - the code button was accidentally pressed by 4 other people that day.

I yelled "YES" as I help get this patient into bed.

I jump up onto the bed, yell at someone to take my stethoscope off of my neck, and I start chest compressions.  I felt a rib crack/break, and hesitate for a moment thinking I am not doing this right.  It is so much different on a real person vs the training on the mannequin I have done.  I think to myself, keep a good pace, remember to push deep enough.  In my head I sing "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees - morbid, maybe - but it comes recommended by the American Heart Association as it helps to achieve the rate of 100 chest compressions per minute.

It felt like hours for the code team to get in the room, really it was maybe a minute.

People are all doing their thing to help this patient, I'm getting tired and yell out "someone switch me out"

My assistant nurse manager on the floor starts compressions, and I stand back.  I wondered what I should be doing, how I should be helping out this patient...my patient.

I realized that the code team had it from there.

Then it all sunk in.

I thought about what I should of/could of done to be better prepared for this situation.  I remember one of my nursing instructors always telling us, when she would get a patient who presents with symptoms x,y, and z, she always thought about the worst case scenario that this patient could throw at her.

The adrenaline rush was wearing off, and my body was recognizing that I hadn't had anything to eat all day (it was 5:45pm).

Then someone said "we have a pulse."

This patient was quickly transferred to the ICU.  My ANM and I stood in the middle of the once chaotic, now empty and trashed room, and we fist bump.

So I am no longer a "code blue virgin" and well, I'd be happy if I was never in a code again.

After the fact, I heard a PCA say she wanted to switch to become a dental hygienist.  I just wished that I was one of the lucky nurses who got a budget day.