# Your first code



## Swimfinn (Aug 21, 2012)

What happened and what did you do afterwards?

I just threw up...haha:blink:


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## NYMedic828 (Aug 21, 2012)

Never bothered me in the slightest.

I showed up, did what the medics said and thats about it.


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## Shishkabob (Aug 21, 2012)

Medic internship, pressed on the chest, popped an IO, gave some meds, got really hungry after we stopped, and went home when it was time to.


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## Swimfinn (Aug 21, 2012)

Does it make a difference that I'm not even outta high school yet? I was bagging for the medic and was in charge of vitals once she stabilized.


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## NJEMT95 (Aug 21, 2012)

Swimfinn said:


> Does it make a difference that I'm not even outta high school yet? I was bagging for the medic and was in charge of vitals once she stabilized.



My first code was when I was 16. Kinda just did everything without even thinking. The family was extremely calm and the guy was obviously dead for a while. Didn't really affect me.

Not sure when this happened, but send me a message if you need to talk through anything that happened.


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## Smoke14 (Aug 21, 2012)

I really don't remember because that most likely would have been in 1978. :blush:


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## abckidsmom (Aug 21, 2012)

I was 14.  I did CPR, they intubated and pushed a lot of meds, and afterward I asked a lot of questions.  

I was hooked.


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## NYMedic828 (Aug 21, 2012)

Swimfinn said:


> Does it make a difference that I'm not even outta high school yet? I was bagging for the medic and *was in charge of vitals once she stabilized.*



Job well done son.


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## Swimfinn (Aug 21, 2012)

...why the sarcasm?


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## NYMedic828 (Aug 21, 2012)

You said you did vitals once she was stabilized, implying that she is still possibly amongst the living due to your actions.

No sarcasm, I meant what I said. Strong work.


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## Swimfinn (Aug 21, 2012)

Ah ok I apologize. I'm used to a gif after a post like that being fecicious.

Thank you.


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## Shishkabob (Aug 21, 2012)

Swimfinn said:


> Ah ok I apologize. I'm used to a gif after a post like that being fecicious.



I'm used to them being facetious.


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## mycrofft (Aug 21, 2012)

and occasionally factitious.
1980, I was alone in the back of the Cadillac ambulance with the pt and his wife (!) and started CPR. Continued in hospital until the doc said "Anything else you can think of?".


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## NYMedic828 (Aug 21, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> and occasionally factitious.
> 1980, I was alone in the back of the Cadillac ambulance with the pt and his wife (!) and started CPR. Continued in hospital until the doc said "Anything else you can think of?".



Found a picture of you that day, thought I would share.





:lol:


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## mycrofft (Aug 21, 2012)

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!






The F-104's of ambulances.


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## the_negro_puppy (Aug 22, 2012)

First code?

48 year old guy dropped in the bedroom at home with wife and teenage kids. VF arrest, shocked 7 times nil rosc. Worked him for about 40 minutes. No dice.

Did compressions for about 20 minutes, worked the defib. ICP backed us up and dropped a tube and we were having trouble with airway (copious vomitus) pushed adrenaline, amiodarone, sodium bicarb.

You always remember the first one


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## MexDefender (Aug 22, 2012)

A possible stroke victim in his 80s. It just happened today... 

Rapid transport, had to do CPR, and than the doctor called it after 20 minutes in the ER while I was still doing compressions after I stopped it felt unreal. It still does...


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## Sandog (Aug 22, 2012)

My first code was  ...---...


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## rwik123 (Aug 22, 2012)

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) haven't had one in the field yet.


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## Asclepius911 (Aug 22, 2012)

First code was cva hemorrhagic stroke from lumpy road, only in LA will you find pot holes in trafficated street.... I will never forget ICP, text book came to life that moment,  projectile vomit, seizure,  unequal pupils, thready pulse. That happened in my first week at the job. My coworker and I kept him alive through transport, longest 7 minutes of my life. We made it to the negative extreme of the statistic with its low survirship rate.


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## Dwindlin (Aug 22, 2012)

Christmas Eve.  Walk in to find ~400lb female slumped over on couch, blue, with eggnog pouring out her mouth.  It's been 10 years and I still can't drink that :censored::censored::censored::censored: to this day.


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## Jambi (Aug 22, 2012)

Don't remember. Too long ago. Probably too many birthdays and met criteria to end resus.

I'll always remember the first peds arrest. Blunt trauma to the head, long down time, mom was strung out on meth...


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## MedicBender (Aug 22, 2012)

I was the Senior EMT on a volly BLS unit. This time I brought 2 rookies with me. I usually never let more then 1 ride with me. This time it worked in my favor. 

We were en route to a welfare check when we were rerouted to red lobster for a code. On arrival we found the guy laying on the ground, with a bunch of people just staring. CPR started, OPA and NPA placed, pt was being ventilated well, we delivered one shock, and had ROSC. Pulse was confirmed. ALS was 20 min out, with the hospital 5 min away. Pt was transported to the hospital and flown to a cardiac center. 

While it was my first code, I found myself with 2 rookies and a driver staring at me for orders. It's still clear it my head but feels like it was over before it started. After it was all said and done we ran 3 or 4 more calls before I went home. I slept great that night. 

I received word a few weeks later that my pt walked out of the hospital with no neuro deficits.


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## DrParasite (Aug 22, 2012)

MedicBender said:


> We were en route to a welfare check when we were rerouted to red lobster for a code. On arrival we found the guy laying on the ground, with a bunch of people just staring. CPR started, OPA and NPA placed, pt was being ventilated well, we delivered one shock, and had ROSC. Pulse was confirmed. ALS was 20 min out, with the hospital 5 min away. Pt was transported to the hospital and flown to a cardiac center.


you mean you didn't wait for ALS??? you must not be in California.....

I was 17 and it was an old lady.  CPR on a bed doesn't work well, even if you put a CPR board under her.  carried her out on the reeves, no shock advised, ACLS didn't help, CPR all the way to the ER, 5 minutes after we got there the ER pronounced her.

When it's a person's time to go, even if you do everything right, even if you have all the necessary help with you, something there isn't a thing you can do to change it.


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## Bullets (Aug 22, 2012)

Unfortunately my first code was a 4mo who rolled in her crib and suffocated . I saw the system work fabulously. Bls, als, bls engine all worked hard, just to much down time.

 all in all, not a good day


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## rescue1 (Aug 22, 2012)

My first was a witnessed respiratory arrest...witnessed by our crew, who had just arrived on scene for a "difficulty breathing" call. He collapsed onto the stretcher, and within minutes was in the ambulance with CPR and ACLS being performed. He made it.

I don't remember having any negative effects from it.


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## Handsome Robb (Aug 22, 2012)

I remember being very confused as to why we were transporting my first code but that's about it. 

I was just finishing the didactic portion of medic school and working as an Intermediate. 

He never had ROSC, on scene or in the ER.


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## DesertMedic66 (Aug 22, 2012)

DrParasite said:


> you mean you didn't wait for ALS??? you must not be in California.....



I've transported patients on a BLS unit to the hospital because ALS was to far out. Seizures, hypoglycemia, and a patient is SVT and I'm in California....

First code was 89 y/o female with known heart problems. Unknown down time. Husband started CPR. We get on scene and take over. 2 IV attempts followed by IO. Intubated, PEA of 18 per minute. Pushed 2 rounds of epi on scene. Transport (15-20 minute transport). Used up all our epi on the rig. Got the the hospital and the doc orders 4 rounds of epi all at once followed by 2 stacked shocks. Pulse back for 2 minutes. Goes back to PEA. Doc worked the patient over for at least 45 minutes at the hospital. 

Finally decided to call her. Her chest felt like mush and the ET tube was full of blood.


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## MedicBender (Aug 22, 2012)

DrParasite said:


> you mean you didn't wait for ALS??? you must not be in California.....



Maryland. 

I got the exact speech from a few other people. I felt it was better to get the patient to definitive care then BS on scene waiting for ALS. 

We were driving past the red lobster when we got detailed on the call. He was lucky.


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## Jambi (Aug 22, 2012)

MedicBender said:


> Maryland.
> 
> I got the exact speech from a few other people. I felt it was better to get the patient to definitive care then BS on scene waiting for ALS.


 
I'd say you did the right thing.


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## DrParasite (Aug 22, 2012)

MedicBender said:


> I felt it was better to get the patient to definitive care then BS on scene waiting for ALS.


and you were 100% right in doing what you did.


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## mrg86 (Aug 22, 2012)

My first code was outside a dialysis center while we were waiting for our patient to finish. The driver of a wheelchair van came over to us and said that the guy she was transporting fell out of his chair and was bleeding. Both of us were fresh out of EMT class and figured that this would be a simple trauma. We found a 250+lb double amputee in a heap on the floor. My partner checked pulse, started compressions and I ran to get our AED and O2. We shocked twice before fire and the medics got there. They rotated us in on compressions several times and they called it after about 20 min. We talked about it on the way back, I think my heart was still pounding when I woke up the next morning. The whole experience was very surreal and I learned a few good lessons.


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## medicman14 (Aug 22, 2012)

My first code was as an EMT student.   I rode with the most awesome,  hippy,  Paramedic you have ever met. 
We ran a mid 60's male with chest pain 
When in the ambulance she gave the patient a medicine and afterwards he grabbed my hand and said it made him feel funny... And he coded. 
Unlike every other medic I had met at that point,  she paused and asked me what just happened. I replied that he just coded,  she calmly asked what it is that we do next,  I meekly asked... Cpr?   She replied yes, and why are you waiting? 
I visited that gentleman a couple days later,  he was eventually discharged to live quite a bit longer. That was the hook,  line,  and sinker for me - I was going to be a Paramedic, here I am 23 years later... Glad I did.


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## TRSpeed (Aug 22, 2012)

I was working a concert standby and we get a call for a "man down", "CPR in progress" (by security). We get on scene maybe 2 min after and take over CPR. ALS gets there maybe another 3 min after that and shock, epi, and tube the pt. Shortly after that pulses were present and transported. Pt later was discharged.


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## Tigger (Aug 22, 2012)

Had my first one in the hospital while doing my basic clinicals. Guy was shocked into Vfib from asytole 8 times in the field and 12 times in the resus room. ROSC occurred and he was admitted to the ICU where he promptly passed. 

Did CPR for a while since I was the tallest in the room, bagged, and suctioned. The guy vomited so much beef stew he could not be intubated until 30 minutes into the ED's efforts. It took the hospital suction and a portable unit to get his airway clear and he had SpO2 of like 30 for a while. It was a mess, but a good "first," it took so long that I got to participate in all the BLS aspects.

I will never forget being alone in the room with the family while they said goodbye. I probably should not have been there (got trapped by equipment), but it was very powerful.


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## PVC (Aug 22, 2012)

A post traumatic code popped my cherry. Patient bled out.


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## Tigger (Aug 23, 2012)

PVC said:


> A post traumatic code popped my cherry. Patient bled out.



What is a post traumatic code?


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## waaaemt (Aug 23, 2012)

Tigger said:


> What is a post traumatic code?



when someone goes code post trauma...?

my first was a 60 yr old male at a nursing home. worst nursing home ever! they called 911 supposedly right after he went code but most likely they didn't for a good 5 minutes. they said they would meet us at the front door, then when my partner and I got there, there was no staff to be found. took us 3-4 minutes to find the room! 

anyway, partner started compressions and vomit gushed out of his mouth so i got on suction and the medics tubed and i helped set up the EKG. 
it was weird, with every compression, the guy's stomach would lurch out like a water bed.

so he had no shockable anything and the medics couldn't get a line started to push epi so they called it. 
he had a dent in his chest after from the compressions..

i hear that epi can also be given with a nebulizer? would that have gotten a pulse back? not that it would have mattered since the nursing home waited so long, he would have been brain dead if we did bring him back.


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## Tigger (Aug 23, 2012)

oogemsquagger said:


> when someone goes code post trauma...?
> 
> my first was a 60 yr old male at a nursing home. worst nursing home ever! they called 911 supposedly right after he went code but most likely they didn't for a good 5 minutes. they said they would meet us at the front door, then when my partner and I got there, there was no staff to be found. took us 3-4 minutes to find the room!



5 minutes? That's pretty good for a nursing home all things considered. Patients are not monitored 24/7 and unless they are some sort telemetry, the staff is not going to know if a patient just "slips away."

The second code I had was in a nursing home. Got sent for a fall. Show up to find Fire in the room working a code. Guy has dependent lividity in all extremities. Nursing staff insistent that he fell 10 minutes ago and that they were able to help him back into bed, but it was clear that the patient had passed quite some time ago. Red faces all around.


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## Anjel (Aug 23, 2012)

Hmm....

Well as a basic student in the ER a lady came in by EMS. They let me do CPR for a couple minutes, but she was already cold, and rigor had set in. Not sure why EMS transported but hey whatever.

While working...

We called for a MVA. Arrived on scene with ALS. 48 y/o female ran her car off the rd. She was slumped over the steering wheel. We ended up breaking a window to get her out. 

Got her on the ground. She was still breathing. Then she went into v-fib. 

Worked it for 18minutes, when they pushed d50 and narcan one right after another. And then ROSC!

Pt transported, left the hospital 2 weeks later with no neuro deficits.


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## CritterNurse (Aug 23, 2012)

My first code wasn't on a human. 

I was a vet. tech student doing an externship. A puppy was getting some extensive orthopedic surgery to correct a birth defect. I don't remember what I was doing at the time, I wasn't involved with the surgery itself. They had just snapped an x-ray to check the placement of the pins before finishing closing up, when the monitoring equipment started showing warning signs. They hurried up to close the site, while letting everyone else know to be ready in case her heart stopped.

She coded, and all of a sudden there was a lot of orders being shouted. The crash cart was called for, and I was directed to bag her. Another vet tech was told to fetch the epinephrine from the fridge. One vet was doing chest compressions, while the other was injecting drugs into her vein. 

We got her back, and they finished putting her leg into a cast. We all kept a very close eye on her for the rest of the day.

The next morning, she was on her feet and acting like a normal puppy would, with a huge cast on a leg.


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## PVC (Aug 23, 2012)

Tigger said:


> What is a post traumatic code?



The patient suffered trauma before his heart stopped.


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## fast65 (Aug 23, 2012)

My first code was as an EMT-B student. I was doing my ride time with an FD run ambulance, so when we got on scene, there were already 5 paramedics and a couple LEO's running the code. They were intubating when we got there, and they had me start on compressions. I did about two minutes of CPR, then a LEO took over, then they called it.

My first code that I was running was a 54 yo M that went to a local clinic with chest pain. Updated en route that it was now a code 99, and when I got on scene, the clinic staff and FD were in the parking lot with the AED. They had already shocked once, and then I got there, switched him over to my monitor, shocked him again, and started a line. Next pulse check I found a weak carotid with vtach on the monitor. I cardioverted him and he converted to sinus rhythm, within a minute he had opened his eyes, and attempted to sit up. Once in the ambulance, he started asking questions about what happened, then he said he was going vomit...then BAM. Projectile vomit everywhere. EVERYWHERE. He ripped my IV out somehow, and I spent the next 10 minutes of transport getting another line in, and trying to clean off the cables so I could actually get a 12-lead. Either way, he's still alive with no neuro deficits.


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## waaaemt (Aug 23, 2012)

sorry i mean 5 min after they found him (the FD said it was probably 10) but it was not a very reputable home to say the elast


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## biz522 (Aug 24, 2012)

My first DOA bothered me.. It was kind of hard to eat after it. My first code didnt bug me at all.. I was working with a really cool/experienced medic that made me feel comfortabe, so that probably helped.


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## ffemt8978 (Aug 25, 2012)

My first code was my first call after being notified I had passed, but had yet to receive my card in the mail.  The Asst. Chief and myself roll up to find bystanders doing CPR on a man wedged between a snowbank and a car.

I jump out, grab the O2 and Defib, and walk up to the patient.  While prepping the AED, I look around for the AC and he's still in the truck on the radio.  We get a couple of shocks in, drop a combitube, and the medics arrived a few minutes later.  Pt. was awake and talking to them in the ambulance but died of a second heart attack later that night.

It was the only time I remember seeing latex gloves crack from the extreme cold.


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## duckandcover (Aug 25, 2012)

My first and second code happened one week apart from eachother.  0530 got the unresponsive male call at the local motel.  Arrived to find a 19yo male unresponsive on the floor next to the tub and the state trooper already doing compressions.  I jumped right in (sternum was already broken) and continued with compressions but we never got him back...(investigated as possible homicide, there were 2 other males in the room 21yo and 23yo and they were "playing video games" and wrestling when they found him on the floor (at 0530....and coroner results showed water in his lungs..drowning?))  That sat with me for a while (given his age) and then a week later got another call 0745 for an unresponsive male at the local motel....you guessed it, walked in and you could hear the AED  as soon as you steeped into the hallway.  I got to the room and a local cop was alreaday working on the patient (who was cold to the touch but according to his friend he dropped right infront of him within the last 5 minutes).  I jumped right in and started compressions and this time i cracked the sternum but the guy again did not make it.  This one stuck with me two not becuase it was yet another code (it was an older man) but because I cracked the ribs.  That is a feeling/sound that is hard to forget.

Lesson learned from these two calls:
1. The world keeps turning, we cant save them all.  Some people are already passed the point of being saved before we even step through the door.
2. When going to a call (especially as a new EMT) you will be nervous, excited, feel unprepared.....however once you get there your training kicks in and you just start analyzing the situation and treating the patient.


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## VFlutter (Aug 25, 2012)

My first code was in the ER during clinical. It was an older man who arrested as the medics rolled into the trauma bay. He was just in a MVA rollover and had multiple injuries and was bleeding out all over (on Coumadin and ASA...ruh roh). The nurse helped me get all gowned up and ready to go and then the Dr told me to wait and told the med student to do CPR. This kid did the most pathetic excuse for CPR I have ever seen, really slow basically no depth just slapping the patient. He definitely needed the practice. After about 30 secs of that the nurse took over and did a round and them grabbed me and let me go. I did a round and we got ROSC after a few units of blood got pumped in.


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## CANDawg (Aug 25, 2012)

My first code was UP, UP, A, DOWN, B, B, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT.

My "patient" instantly got ROSC and got unlimited lives to boot. h34r:


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## Swimfinn (Aug 25, 2012)

duckandcover said:


> Lesson learned from these two calls:
> 1. The world keeps turning, we cant save them all.  Some people are already passed the point of being saved before we even step through the door.
> 2. When going to a call (especially as a new EMT) you will be nervous, excited, feel unprepared.....however once you get there your training kicks in and you just start analyzing the situation and treating the patient.



Thank you very much for the words of wisdom.


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## eprex (Aug 26, 2012)

I had volunteered on two overnights. The first was an old, extremely overweight woman in a nursing home who had been long gone. The medics I was with were nothing but stellar. She had severe effusion and rigor mortis. 

The second was really saddening- a relatively young man just married and with a baby. He was overweight as well and was found lying on his bedroom floor. To this day I still wonder what happened to him and I get upset thinking about his poor wife.

Both in just one week's time! All I can say is I hope this job doesn't make me jaded.


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## Epi-do (Aug 26, 2012)

oogemsquagger said:


> i hear that epi can also be given with a nebulizer? would that have gotten a pulse back? not that it would have mattered since the nursing home waited so long, he would have been brain dead if we did bring him back.



Typically epi is nebulized for croup.  (Some places may give it for other respiratory issues, but that is the only time I can use it in my corner of the world.)  It isn't going to do anything in a cardiac arrest, except waste the epi, since your patient would need to be breathing (although it may not be very well) to be given a nebulizer.  We used to put drugs down the ET tube and bag them in, but we don't even do that anymore.

My first code was a 60-something gentleman who dropped in the middle of his living room while talking to his wife.  It had to be VT/V-fib since the medic shocked him.  We did get him back, and he was discharged with pretty much no deficits.

After getting a few more codes under my belt, I couldn't help but think how ironic it was for my first one to be a save, when most people don't survive, and of the few that do, most have some sort of deficit.  I've always thought of it as a false representation of the job, even though I was super pumped about it at the time.


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## JPINFV (Aug 26, 2012)

During EMT clinicals at the hospital, EMS brought in a patient in asystole with unknown downtime (patient took a nap and never woke up). If the patient arrives in the ED in asystole, most likely they will leave the hospital in asystole. Also, based on the radio report, the RN had the body bag already set up like a mattress cover on the gurney. 

When all was said and done, I went back to helping with other patients.


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## Undaedalus (Aug 26, 2012)

Never had a PT saved when CPR was involved at any point, and I've been going at it for at least a little while now...  Although, I have been involved in plenty o' rapid transports to cath, respiratory palliation/alleviation, or cardioversion that arguably resulted in a save.

First code was a 27 yo F, down for ~20 minutes prior to being found by boyfriend.  PT had Hx of drug abuse and was, "well medicated," PTOA. Of course it was in a hotel, and not a nice one.  It was my first day precepting as a Basic for a job running 911.  It was the first time I saw anything valuable performed in the field, and it was an eye-opener in regards to what I knew, what I didn't know, and how much there was to learn.  Still learning today...

Discussion Points:

1.   Why on Earth do so many damn people crunk out in hotels?  Seriously!
2.  As some else already stated, when it came time to play that first time, it's amazing how much of your training comes roaring back, no? 
3.  I am in hate with you if your first code was a save.


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## Dwindlin (Aug 27, 2012)

JPINFV said:


> During EMT clinicals at the hospital, EMS brought in a patient in asystole with unknown downtime (patient took a nap and never woke up). If the patient arrives in the ED in asystole, most likely they will leave the hospital in asystole. *Also, based on the radio report, the RN had the body bag already set up like a mattress cover on the gurney.
> *
> When all was said and done, I went back to helping with other patients.



Heh, we do this routinely no matter what the radio report is. . .


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## Doczilla (Aug 27, 2012)

Epi-do said:


> Typically epi is nebulized for croup.  (Some places may give it for other respiratory issues, but that is the only time I can use it in my corner of the world.)  It isn't going to do anything in a cardiac arrest, except waste the epi, since your patient would need to be breathing (although it may not be very well) to be given a nebulizer.  We used to put drugs down the ET tube and bag them in, but we don't even do that anymore.
> 
> My first code was a 60-something gentleman who dropped in the middle of his living room while talking to his wife.  It had to be VT/V-fib since the medic shocked him.  We did get him back, and he was discharged with pretty much no deficits.
> 
> After getting a few more codes under my belt, I couldn't help but think how ironic it was for my first one to be a save, when most people don't survive, and of the few that do, most have some sort of deficit.  I've always thought of it as a false representation of the job, even though I was super pumped about it at the time.



This. When you nebulize a drug, you also off-gas it. Take a look at the next breathing treatment you see, it'll look like they're smoking the peace pipe.

The point of giving vasopressors in cardiac arrest is to skyrocket B/P to improve CAPP in conjunction with CPR. The absorption rate for racemic epi is too slow and unreliable.


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## VCEMT (Aug 28, 2012)

The Armani Code


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## DVetter (Sep 4, 2012)

*My first code*

My first code was 16 years ago.we went to a little eldercare facility. I did chest compressions for about  10 min. And my partner got orders to call it.
I felt that the person we were working on was somehow still in the room and then she was gone. I still remember that.


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## Simusid (Sep 4, 2012)

Asclepius911 said:


> First code was cva hemorrhagic stroke from lumpy road, only in LA will you find pot holes in trafficated street....



If you want to see *REAL* pot holes you simply must come to New England in the spring.  I do the best job I can getting uncomfortable conscious patients to the hospital smoothly, but usually I have to apologize.  You just CANNOT get to a hospital in Fall River MA without hitting some whoppers.

And my first code was exceptionally routine.  70+ ish male alone in elderly housing, life alert, tube, lucas, IO, shock, meds, shock, meds, transport.


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## Tigger (Sep 4, 2012)

Simusid said:


> If you want to see *REAL* pot holes you simply must come to New England in the spring.  I do the best job I can getting uncomfortable conscious patients to the hospital smoothly, but usually I have to apologize.  You just CANNOT get to a hospital in Fall River MA without hitting some whoppers.


 
I think the SouthCoast might actually have worse roads than Boston itself. My time in Attleboro brought me down your way a fair bit and boy oh boy are you correct.


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## stagejedi (Sep 4, 2012)

First code was in 2007, worked the patient, who had attempted suicide, for 45 minutes ended up getting pulses back but the patient never regained consciousness.


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## VCEMT (Sep 5, 2012)

stagejedi said:


> First code was in 2007, worked the patient, who had attempted suicide, for 45 minutes ended up getting pulses back but the patient never regained consciousness.



That could be considered a successful suicide...


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## Chrissy1 (Sep 5, 2012)

first code was a lady who had hit a rock while rafting, had gone a good two miles down the river part of it facedown before being pulled out.  I was still on probationary runs.  never forget the details of the call. just did my job then went home and carried on.


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## DVetter (Sep 7, 2012)

*Code save*

We had a drowning last year. It involved a 2 yr old girl  found face down in the back yard pool. It was February and at night. The neighbor came into the house asking what was floating in the pool. When we arrived CPR was in progress and the family members were hysterical.it's these calls that teach you to remain calm and do what you need to do. The one thing I would like to stress to any newbie EMT s is how important it is to get a FSBS ( finger stick, blood sugar)This little girls sugar was at 20 . You can do everything possible to revive a code but if you don't have sugar in their system it is like trying to jump start a car without gasoline.  The medics got some sugar onboard and then  worked their magic.Believe it or not the paramedics had pulses and she was crying by the time she got to the hospital !  She was released from the hospital the next day and returned home showing no deficits .AMAZING !!


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## Trashtruck (Sep 7, 2012)

My first code was as a paramedic student. I forget what it was dispatched as(it certainly wasn't as a code, of course), but we found an man down on the sidewalk...apneic/pulseless. First run of the day...maybe 7 or 8ish.

In retrospect, I now know the efforts were utterly futile.

My preceptor worked him for my benefit/education/experience and not the pt's, as he was long dead and would've been pronounced dead on scene, sans paramedic student ride-along.


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## blazenemt (Sep 7, 2012)

*1st code*

100 degrees in the shade. sweated alot. took a nap!


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## Tigger (Sep 7, 2012)

Trashtruck said:


> My first code was as a paramedic student. I forget what it was dispatched as(it certainly wasn't as a code, of course), but we found an man down on the sidewalk...apneic/pulseless. First run of the day...maybe 7 or 8ish.
> 
> In retrospect, I now know the efforts were utterly futile.
> 
> My preceptor worked him for my benefit/education/experience and not the pt's, as he was long dead and would've been pronounced dead on scene, sans paramedic student ride-along.



I get that paramedic interns need to practice working codes in some way, but if I was long dead I wouldn't want my body violated like that.


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## sgc9703 (Sep 7, 2012)

Just had my first one this week.  Did CPR, bagged and suction while medics started an IV and gave epi.  Pt never regained pulse.  Didn't really bother me.  I knew we had done all we could, but sometimes it doesn't matter.


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## blazenemt (Sep 7, 2012)

blazenemt said:


> 100 degrees in the shade. sweated alot. took a nap!


 just to add, i was a new basic, did cpr and bagged. asked alot of questions and it was HOT


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## hoop762 (Sep 8, 2012)

Just had my first code as a paramedic a couple days ago. Everything went really smooth. Got the IO and tube with no issues.  And had a awesome firefighter ride in with me. 

We were given the wrong address which delayed out time to pt by 2 minutes, but rescue was doing excellent CPR when we got there. 

My pt didn't make it, but im really happy with how the call ran.  Doc in the ER called it after 10 min.


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## Foxbat (Sep 8, 2012)

The first code I witnessed was a male in his 40's who had an apparent MI. He was awake and talking when we arrived. In the ER he went into cardiac arrest when the doctor tried to cardiovert him. The ER staff let us (the EMS crew) stand nearby and watch the cardioversion, for my educational benefit. After the arrest and about 15 min of CPR the medic said "Enough of us being in a way, let's go. He's gone", and we left. I hadn't had a chance to follow up, EMTs/medics would just shrug and tell me that it's a 99.999....% chance he didn't make it but I never knew for sure.

That call bothered me. The fact that he died in front of me (DOAs don't bother me at all), the fact that his wife and daughter were nearby, the guilt from that fact that that earlier day I was waiting for a "good" call, the callousness and cynicism of EMS and ER staff (normal behavior, but at the time it looked really, really bad to me), the fact that I didn't know the outcome for sure... I still remember the patient's first name, which is pretty rare for me.

The first code that I actually worked was after I've been an EMT for 4 (four!) years. Elderly male, unwitnessed cardiac arrest. We knew that the chances were nil, but we had to follow protocols and work him until the medic contacted the doctor and he called it.


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## homingmissile (Sep 9, 2012)

My first code was a month ago, only my second duty ever as a newly minted EMT-B. 100+(!) year old woman in her bedroom. Firefighters were already on-scene doing CPR when we got there. I bagged, did some chest compressions, put a c-collar and spine boarded her, and got confused by some IV tubing.

At that age the chances were slim to none of bringing her back but we had to try. Hope she lived a full life.


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## rennex (Sep 9, 2012)

homingmissile said:


> My first code was a month ago, only my second duty ever as a newly minted EMT-B. 100+(!) year old woman in her bedroom. Firefighters were already on-scene doing CPR when we got there. I bagged, did some chest compressions, put a c-collar and spine boarded her, and got confused by some IV tubing.
> 
> At that age the chances were slim to none of bringing her back but we had to try. Hope she lived a full life.



At that age, I wonder if the trauma her body will suffer from the MI and resuscitation efforts will be worth it.


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