Happy Nurses Week 2009

This is why I am an ER nurse.

Today we had a visit from a very special person. She literally was brought back from the dead over 20 times.

The worst day of her life started on a routine trip to the local mall. She was found face down on the floor of the women's restroom -dead. The first person who found her immediately started CPR. There was an AED at the mall which was used and shocked her three times before EMS arrived. Thanks to the swift response of the EMS crew she was in our ER within 10 minutes of being found on the ground. She had CPR the entire time.

She had a pulse on arrival but when we moved her over to the gurney she went into pulseless v-tach and was shocked again. She spent thirteen minutes in the ER being resuscitated. The cardiologist was in the ER seeing another patient and made the decision to take her to the cath lab. She had a pulse when leaving the ER but went into v-fib in the elevator - one of the ER nurses climbed on top of the patient to perform chest compressions while the gurney was pushed swiftly into the cath lab.

The cath lab crew continued the resuscitation efforts while the cardiologist inserted a balloon pump. The patients hemodynamic status stabilized and she was taken to the cardio-pulmonary ICU in very critical condition. That evening she was taken to the cardiac OR where she underwent four vessel bypass.

Over the next couple of days her cardiac status continued to improve and she was weaned of the balloon pump and all her vaso-active and anti-arrhythmic drips. She began to wake up and show signs of neurologic improvement.

twelve days after she was found dead on the floor at the mall she walked out of our hospital unassisted on the way to a full recovery.

This is why I am an ER nurse.

Happy Nurse's Week everyone.