Yesterday as I was leaving work at 5PM, ready to start the Memorial Day weekend, and to finally get a few days off, I heard a code blue called to the ICU. Now that is an instant dilemma: do I just ignore someone else's emergency and hope I don't get paged back once I get home? Or do I go scope out the situation, to see if I can be of help (and avoid the call back)? I opted for the pre-emptive strike and headed to the unit. I was the 1st doctor on the scene and they were doing CPR on a post-surgical patient. Apparently a pretty big abdominal bleed. In these situations, I dont have much to offer other than direct the action, get the heart back to rhythm, and order some drugs. These types of things need an intervention to staunch the bleeding. I handed the patient off to the surgeon when he arrived, offered any other help, and headed home, assuming that the patient didn't survive. It looked pretty dire. I was amazed to hear this morning the patient was still alive (in a cardiac sort of way). He won't make it however. It did make me pause to consider all the modes of death. It's not like they show in the movies. On a future post I'll explore some of my thoughts.
1 comment:
I read your post with mixed emotions as I have only been on the patient side of such a situation. I was so thankful that my doctors and nurses worked so hard to keep me alive. Honestly, it was like watching a movie that I had a starring role in and ultimately had a happy ending. We patients (in crisis) cannot thank you doctors enough.
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