Code
I watched what can only be described as a textbook code tonight.
The patient was talking one minute and the next was unresponsive. Her nurse witnessed the whole thing, saw and recognized the rhythm on the monitor and called for help. What can only be described as a stampede of staff immediately went into that room, started CPR, attached the patient to a defibrillator (The “Clear!!!” device of television and movie fame) and started giving medications.
Less than three minutes, 2 doses of magnesium and 120 Joules of sweet electricity later, our patient was talking again. Not incomprehensible sounds, but answering questions in complete sentences. This person went from legally dead – no pulse, no breathing- to talking in almost no time flat because of our interventions.
Hell yeah, modern medicine. Hell. Yeah.