In a sweater and jeans

First off, it has been a long fucking day.

I took an exam this morning and I am 90% sure I had some type of hypoglycemic episode (something new to worry about, yay).

Anyways, last night my mom recommended that I write this story on here so I figured I would share this story from yesterday afternoon after the UPC meeting in the Emergency Department.

So.

I left the meeting and was talking with one of our docs and nurses when there is a priority one called over the radio - for the uninitiated, a priority one is a patient that has some life-threatening issue that has either caused them to code (try to die) or is putting them in danger of doing so. So they said that the patient had achieved ROSC (Return of Spontaneous Circulation - AKA OMG they are alive) and they were 3 minutes out. I am still trying to get the heck out of dodge but I think, “I can stay and at least help get the room ready, there’s not much help over here anyways.” So, I go about my normal tech duties in preparation for a priority one. Mind you, I am still in jeans and a very nice old navy sweater (though could be considered a long sleeve shirt, either way I looked like a frat boy who got lost).

EMS comes through the door. They are doing CPR.

My dumbass is standing there in my navy blue sweater thinking, “well, I guess I won’t be leaving.”

Of course, moving this patient over to our stretcher from the EMS stretcher was a clusterfuck. After we got the patient onto the stretcher, I continued CPR while the nurses and our Doc did what they needed to do. A paramedic was up at the head of the bed, placing an endotracheal tube.

Somehow, after one round (maybe two, I didn’t keep count) we got a decent rhythm which gave us some time to attempt a Femoral ART Line (Arterial Line placed in the groin - took 2 tries).

Throughout this whole code, I am just running around in my navy blue sweater and jeans.

Note to self - you should always bring back-up scrubs when you come to work, even if you’re just there for a meeting.

I would expect that there might be some more medical type blog posts on here soon.

BRB

Jonathan