First Full arrest

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Zredmond

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So after working stand by at an event this weekend, I got my first cardiac arrest. It came out of no where, and turned to be a very stressful call. I understand why now in EMT class they stress CPR so much, but I'm noticing that a lot of students don't take it seriously. Everyone has a mentality that it's super easy, and anyone can do CPR; which is correct, If the patient is a half bodied plastic manican. But when you've got 200 people staring at you looking at YOU for the answer, the scenario becomes a little different. When you look down and see this human being lifeless on the ground in a very public place, with all eyes on you, suddenly everything changes. Luckily for me I was able to brush off all the other stuff and be able to get right to work, but I know a few people who work in EMS who would freeze, and become too distracted by the emotional aspect. Not really a question, but just sharing some thoughts about this.
 
True. The only time arrests are stressful is when they're on TV.

"Damnit Jimmy! Don't you die on me! Breathe man!"
 
Once you get comfortable, these calls will become pretty straightforward. Once in a while there will be something odd thrown in, but just remember principals of management ... quality chest compressions, don't delay defibrillation, don't over bag.

To a be a little nitpicky just for a moment, what is a "full" arrest? Is there such a thing as a "partial" arrest? Its not just you, everybody says it. I think it comes from describing patients as "full code," meaning, if they arrest, they get all interventions. We should all try to get in the habit of calling these "cardiac arrest" or simply "arrest" and drop the meaningless "full."

George Carlin sums up this phenomena pretty well ... not that this needs saying ... NSFW


That's my 1.5 cents (exchange rate sucks these days).
 
I don't believe in the psychological aspects, being distracted or freezing. You either have trained for it and you are prepared or you have not trained for it and you are not prepared. If you don't feel comfortable get out the protocol book get out the aha algorithm get a red bull and run through a few mega codes until you feel comfortable.
 
cprted said:
Once you get comfortable, these calls will become pretty straightforward. Once in a while there will be something odd thrown in, but just remember principals of management ... quality chest compressions, don't delay defibrillation, don't over bag.

To a be a little nitpicky just for a moment, what is a "full" arrest? Is there such a thing as a "partial" arrest? Its not just you, everybody says it. I think it comes from describing patients as "full code," meaning, if they arrest, they get all interventions. We should all try to get in the habit of calling these "cardiac arrest" or simply "arrest" and drop the meaningless "full."

George Carlin sums up this phenomena pretty well ... not that this needs saying ... NSFW


That's my 1.5 cents (exchange rate sucks these days).
Click to expand...
That's just how our dispatch calls it out, "priority one cardiac arrest, full arrest at...."
 
As others have said...cardiac arrest is the most routine call. You cannot be any more "deader"...therefore, anything you do which returns circulation is a bonus. Arrest calls are one of the most scripted, algorithmic treatments you can perform and by nature it should have the least emotional aspect. It is damn near muscle memory if practiced or performed enough.

The "emotional" calls are when you have someone CTD (circling the drain) right in front of you...and all eyes are on you..including THEIRS....they know they are dying and it is up to you to understand what diseases process or multiple disease processes are taking place...or how bad the mutli system trauma is and what to do first to get best results. THAT is stressful and could become emotional for some because there is no set script for that scenario.
 
A medic told me once cardiac arrests are the most stable a patient will ever be... they can't get anymore deader. Plus if you have a good working relationship with your partner and the local FD they're run quite smooth if everyone knows what needs to be done.
 
medicaltransient said:
I don't believe in the psychological aspects, being distracted or freezing. You either have trained for it and you are prepared or you have not trained for it and you are not prepared. If you don't feel comfortable get out the protocol book get out the aha algorithm get a red bull and run through a few mega codes until you feel comfortable.
Click to expand...

There is a whole new interdisciplinary field of study devoted to human factors psychology that would strongly disagree with you.

Intelligent and well-trained people do in fact "freeze up", forget things that they have memorized cold, and make stupid mistakes during critical periods. There are things that can be done to deal with it, and review probably never hurts, but drinking red bull and re-reading the ACLS algorithms probably isn't the solution, because the problem isn't usually lack of knowing what to do.
 
Household6 said:
So how did it turn out?
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He died. Probably dead 20 minutes before the 911 call. You know, the hardest part was the fact that the ones who found him were 3 kids under the age of 10, and they kept asking if that man was dead. It's hard to explain that kinda thing to them.
 
So there was 200 people around you when you were trying to get ROSC, but it took 20 mins for someone to find him? Hmmm
 
Chewy dont be silly....the "Uh Oh Squad" arrived after the ambulance with all its lights and sirens. You know how they are at every scene...

Uh Oh, what happened? Uh Oh, whats going on? Uh oh, is he dead?

They are fast and persistent!
 
Full arrest means no pulse, no breathing. Also called cardiac arrest.

As opposed to respiratory arrest, in which there is a pulse, but no breathing.

OP, thanks for sharing and good job. I work events too and I hope I can act with the professionalism you showed if I ever get a code.
 
Hey Red...can you cite your source please so I may update my files?
 
Files? What files?

IDK about sources. That terminology ("full arrest" and "cardiac arrest" used interchangeably) is what I was taught.
 
Still does not make sense. It's either a cardiac or respiratory arrest. Full arrest makes it sound like it's possible to have a half a pulse.
 
It makes sense to me. It's not a technical or academic term, but colloquially I think everyone knows what it means.
 
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