Lessons from the ER II

Yesterday was a crazy day in the Emerg. I got to assist with chest compressions (part of CPR - Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) in a guy who had a cardiac arrest on the street. It all happened so quickly it was so surreal. It was a really sobering and humbling experience. In the end, we managed to get a heart rhythm back and he got sent to the ICU. I wonder how he's doing because he was transferred to a different hospital.....I wonder what happened to him...
I'm realizing that it's the moments afterwards when you reflect on the situation that most of the learning takes part - what went well, what didn't go to well....how I can improve on my knowledge of this and that. Looking back, I can remember landmarking and doing my compressions - just like we were taught at first aid. I kept looking at the ECG tracing and then his face, then the ECG tracing and then his face....hoping for a tracing on the heart monitor....hoping for a flicker of life. My body was tiring and I switched out of the chest compressions, and later he got a heart rhythm back. I was......we were all.....amazed.
A "Code Blue" really underlies the importance of teamwork, because there are so many small things that need to be done. Nurses, physicians, Resp therapists..and students....all working together in a co-ordinated manner for one sole purpose - to revive the patient. In this case, it worked, but I can imagine the countless other times that it doesn't work. It must be difficult to deal with those situations and the emotions that go with it. I wonder what it would feel like...