One of the other perks of MAU Nights is that you carry the crash bleep. It only went off twice this weekend.
The night before last we had been sat drinking tea in the mess (I had seized the opportunity after my haematemesis man went to theatre) and had to run to the other side of the hospital (made considerably easier by the fact it was 330am and the corridors were empty). Arrived somewhat out of breath to find one of the surgical patients being subjected to CPR and the usual accompanying flurry of activity. She was in asystole and the ITU and medical registrars made the decision to stop fairly soon after we arrived. Later found out that she had been due to go to theatre for an emergency laparotomy to relieve a probable bowel obstruction but had been sent back to the ward because our haematemesis man was prioritised ahead of her. Chances are had she made it to theatre she would have arrested on induction or on the table and would have died anyway, but had mixed feelings about it.
Last night the crash bleep went off at 630am and I had to run all the way to the same surgical ward (up several flights of stairs). This time I was running on my own and received a few strange looks from porters and cleaners on the way. Arrived to find two nurses performing CPR with rather poor technique, and noted that the one holding the airway had the facemask on the patient upside down! Rectified this and popped in an oropharyngeal airway then took over chest compressions as the med reg arrived. Patient was in pulseless electrical activity and we managed to get a pulse back on him which was a good feeling. Dont know the outcome as I returned to MAU before he was taken for a scan/to ITU.
Sat down to update the handover list near the end of the shift, somewhat tired by this point, and the healthcare assistant (HCA) next to me who was labelling some swabs said:
- How do you spell 'froat'?
- 'Froat'? Do you mean throat?
- Yeah froat.
- Er.. T-H-R-O-A-T.
- Fanks.
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