Had My First Code!!

EisforEffort

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So yes Im a super new EMT. So new that my uniforms are still perfect! I was realesed July 15 from a 7 week orientation which involves riding and learning how to handle these ALS trucks as well as the functions of my job. Basically the street way. Each day I worked, the calls I would receive were just minor stuff. Not that I wish harm on anyone but our truck just never got the good calls. (Part of that EMS sick humor). I've been released for 2 weeks and have signed up for more OT than anyone in my rookie class! I've worked with almost 13 different medics and learned a little more each night with each medic. I just knew it had to happen soon.

Every EMT or medic I talk to tell me their first code story and how some went years while others went weeks or as soon as after orientation. It's kinda like puberty in EMS! The real :censored::censored::censored::censored:.

Our call was a respiratory call. Nothing out of the ordinary. Our temperatures are 105+ and really freaking hot!! So respiratory calls are pretty normal with these temperatures. When we walked in I saw a 60+ woman slumped in a recliner breathing rapidly and shallow. As I reach for the non-rebreather my partner says bag her! I remember hearing snoring respirations so I grabbed an OPA and NPA just in case. As we bagged her we couldn't get a good seal so we layed her on a backboard in case we had to start CPR. As we laid her down, my partner asked me to check for a pulse. As I reached for a pulse I didn't feel one and at that moment I knew my answer was a life and death choice for this woman. I started to question myself. Do I feel it? Is that mine? But in my gut I knew she was pulseless. When I said no the compressions began! The fire department assisted compressions while I bAgged. We also droped an OPA because of the aurway obstruction. We moved her to the cot and began to wheel her to the ambulance. We had an orientee on the truck with us who was also in my rookie class. (he was just behind due to staffing issues but a damn good EMT! Oh and this was his last day of orientation. Talk about reality check!)

As we are leaving for the hospital we take a fireman with us to help with CPR while the medic began intubation and IO on the patient. Everything was so chaotic but I remember being so calm and able to think threw every step that was required of me. At one point my glove became stuck to the combo pads (remember the heat is crazy hot) and I yelled oh :censored::censored::censored::censored: when it began analyzing the patient. The fireman yelled "stay calm" and I laughed because I was calm! Just scared of getting SHOCKED! I ended up saving him as we hit a corner. He thanked me later.

All and all my medic was so calm and efficient. We did everything we could for this lady but were unable to bring her back. The hospital took over and I haven't heard if she survived or not. In my heart I believe she may have passed but I'll never know for sure. I can say I felt like I grew up that day! I was on an addreniline high for 2 days! Today I can honestly say I'm ready for whatever comes my way (at least I think I am) and I've found my calling! Granted there is going to be some crazy stuff in my career but the way I see it is everyday I learn something new and the days I realize I've stopped learning something new is the day I decide to go to medic school!

Thanks for letting me share this with you! :rolleyes:
 

bahnrokt

Forum Lieutenant
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Congrats. Save this post you 6 months from now when all the codes blur together.

My first was a 62y/o male unresponcive in a travel trailer at a camp ground 7pm on a hot Sunday. Trailer was dark and FD started CPR. I was still in EMT class but was riding with another fairly new emt (Volunteer squad). We get him on a board, bag, move him to the rig. We start going, I throw on all the lights to high and notice he had pooling blood on his back. Roll him and his entire back is purple...he's been dead for a while.

We contact med control they tell us to stop CPR and bring him to the morgue at the local hospital. Hospital staff has mo idea what to do with him. The mortuary staff is gone till Monday. They find the keys to the morgue, hand them to us and say have at it. We leave him in the morgue, return the key and head home.

The next day a state trooper is asking for me at my day job. I have to give a statement on how we illegally entered a morgue. Then explain to co workers why the Police where there to question me about breaking into morgue...2 years later some are still convinced I was there to make sweet love.
 

shiroun

Forum Lieutenant
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Awesome story

Congrats on the save. Be glad you didnt get shocked or you would've spent the day in the hospital (its called being energized, quite a shocking name for it :rofl:).

A good tip I heard from a medic, never go back to the hospital for people who code(d), you want to remmeber them as being saved and having a pulse, not being dead in the hospital.

Anyway it's really good you were calm during it, some people freak out and just stop in their tracks, you were the opposite from what you're saying. Good luck in your career
 
OP
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EisforEffort

Forum Probie
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Congrats. Save this post you 6 months from now when all the codes blur together.

My first was a 62y/o male unresponcive in a travel trailer at a camp ground 7pm on a hot Sunday. Trailer was dark and FD started CPR. I was still in EMT class but was riding with another fairly new emt (Volunteer squad). We get him on a board, bag, move him to the rig. We start going, I throw on all the lights to high and notice he had pooling blood on his back. Roll him and his entire back is purple...he's been dead for a while.

We contact med control they tell us to stop CPR and bring him to the morgue at the local hospital. Hospital staff has mo idea what to do with him. The mortuary staff is gone till Monday. They find the keys to the morgue, hand them to us and say have at it. We leave him in the morgue, return the key and head home.

The next day a state trooper is asking for me at my day job. I have to give a statement on how we illegally entered a morgue. Then explain to co workers why the Police where there to question me about breaking into morgue...2 years later some are still convinced I was there to make sweet love.
So glad I didn't get shocked! Thank you for commenting! =)
 
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EisforEffort

Forum Probie
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Congrats. Save this post you 6 months from now when all the codes blur together.

My first was a 62y/o male unresponcive in a travel trailer at a camp ground 7pm on a hot Sunday. Trailer was dark and FD started CPR. I was still in EMT class but was riding with another fairly new emt (Volunteer squad). We get him on a board, bag, move him to the rig. We start going, I throw on all the lights to high and notice he had pooling blood on his back. Roll him and his entire back is purple...he's been dead for a while.

We contact med control they tell us to stop CPR and bring him to the morgue at the local hospital. Hospital staff has mo idea what to do with him. The mortuary staff is gone till Monday. They find the keys to the morgue, hand them to us and say have at it. We leave him in the morgue, return the key and head home.

The next day a state trooper is asking for me at my day job. I have to give a statement on how we illegally entered a morgue. Then explain to co workers why the Police where there to question me about breaking into morgue...2 years later some are still convinced I was there to make sweet love.
That's hilarious and crazy all at the same time! Not surprised the hosptial threw their hands up and gave you the keys! Sometimes they will avoid responsibilty at all costs. I've seen this a time or two. However it sucks it came back on your guys! What a heck of a first code!
 

shiroun

Forum Lieutenant
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Congrats. Save this post you 6 months from now when all the codes blur together.

My first was a 62y/o male unresponcive in a travel trailer at a camp ground 7pm on a hot Sunday. Trailer was dark and FD started CPR. I was still in EMT class but was riding with another fairly new emt (Volunteer squad). We get him on a board, bag, move him to the rig. We start going, I throw on all the lights to high and notice he had pooling blood on his back. Roll him and his entire back is purple...he's been dead for a while.

We contact med control they tell us to stop CPR and bring him to the morgue at the local hospital. Hospital staff has mo idea what to do with him. The mortuary staff is gone till Monday. They find the keys to the morgue, hand them to us and say have at it. We leave him in the morgue, return the key and head home.

The next day a state trooper is asking for me at my day job. I have to give a statement on how we illegally entered a morgue. Then explain to co workers why the Police where there to question me about breaking into morgue...2 years later some are still convinced I was there to make sweet love.

Because everyone knows how sexy dead bodies are :wacko:
 

tiffany9902

Forum Crew Member
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congrats on your first code...

My first time coding was with an RT and Trach Pt. it was a transfer from los angeles to Sacramento. to return her home... the first 5 mins into it she stop breathing, which i think was a mucus plug in the way. I try to wake her up and nothing. My RT tells me what do i do, I yell at him and say what do u think try to suction her and then start bagging... he was white as a ghost... well after a few hours in the ER she was ready to head back home... 5 hrs into the drive in the middle of no where her BP and pulse just drops really low and the vent broke.. RT falling asleep so i pushed hm out the way and i bagged her for 2 hrs till we came across an Hosp.
 

bigbaldguy

Former medic seven years 911 service in houston
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Nice work. I enjoyed reading this. Sounds like you handled it well. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.
 

SFD316

Forum Ride Along
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My first code as an E was pretty crazy. It was someone I consider a family member. I grew up calling her my Aunt and when I heard the call I ran through the neighbor's yard and made a beeline for the door, getting my E bag caught on just about anything, the tones dropped for an A/F unresp and I knew she had recently had a sroke, once I got inside my uncle told me she had went to bite into a peach, before she was able to take an actual bite, she started spitting up. When I arrived she was cyonotic, still spitting up and unresponsive to any verbal or painful stimuli. I checked her airway and decided to wait for the rig to suction, i tried leaning her over and and checking inside her mouth, I saw nothing. Her B/P was extremely low and pulse ox was 84%. Pupils fully dialated. I dropped a NPA and we started to BVM, the rig got there, we suctioned and headed in transport. She coded in the driveway. We began CPR and she came back, after 2 minutes she coded again. After picking up ALS we continuted CPR as continued to stop when her pulse would come to. She lived for 5 days on life support and it gave her children and the rest of the family a chance to say good bye. I guess it justified all the classing and hours I put in, I've been working hard even since!
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
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My 1st code was back in 1998. It was a 911 call that we picked up because there were no ALS ambulances in the county. The fire department was BLS at the time and they had gotten there 1st. The firefighter swore that she had a pulse. When I checked her, she did not. We moved her to our gurney, as she was in bed. We go to the AED it said, "no shock advised". And we started CPR. ALS was still at least 10 min. out, so we transported to the closest hospital, which was about 2 min. away.We got her to the hospital and she had a non-shockable rhythm. We continued CPR for approximately 40 min. and we were unable to save her.

I have since run several more codes, but I do not remember all of them. They blur.

The last code I ran was similar in that the patient was in bed, but he was gasping. I would most certainly call it agonal respirations. We got into the floor, started CPR, and managed to get a pulse back with just CPR. We turned him over to the 911 provider as they had been separately called by the family and he maintained a pulse all the way to the hospital. I do not know if he survived, I do not know if he was neurologically intact, I certainly hope so. He was one of the many that we never were able to get any follow-up on. The only reason that I know that he had a pulse all the way to the emergency room is that we ran into the medics that transported him a couple days later.
 
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