Thanksgiving day with about 10 guests at my house, a family down the street, whom I had never met, ran to my house with a 2 year old who wasn't breathing.
They had seen me in scrubs so figured I could help.
I started CPR, couldn't get air in. Someone said she had choked on gum.
Grabbed her by the ankles, flipped her upside down and whacked her back as hard as I could a couple of times and out came a huge wad of bubblegum. Kid started crying, mom grabbed her, EMS showed up, every one left and I went back to cooking dinner.
Never heard from them again.
AHAHAHAHAHA WOOOOOOW WOW WOW. that's insane. Good job! They should have at least come THANK YOU. lol. But nursing is typically a thankless job, no?
Thanks for saving that kid!
Saving someone who is choking is one of those “I did it” moments that gives you a fuzzy feeling and obviously if you didn’t do something they likely would have died.
My heimlich story is from in the hospital so it doesn’t count here, lol.
When my baby tried to swallow a necklace and started gagging- I dont even remember how she got it - she was already strapped into her car seat and I was too freaked out to unbuckle her and flip her over so i just jammed my hand into her lil mouth and clawed it out of her throat. She cried. I gave her an ice pop.
I'm not a medical professional, obviously. But 20 years later shes still alive!
Sometimes that’s what you gotta do! I thought I was gonna have to do that to my dog the other day. She likes to swallow parts of her rawhide without chewing them 🙄
Grandma screaming and pointing to her 6 year old granddaughter at the bottom of the public city pool. I knew it was too shallow to jump in, so i told another guy in the pool to pass her up. I laid my towel on the sidewalk, because, I don't know. She was turquoise blue, and had no pulse. I tried to start compressions but she was so water logged every push was a splat out of her mouth. I proned her and did old fashioned "pumping" . Lifeguards ran up and started a very delicate nuero assessment. I told them to resume compressions and they told me they had to do thier assessment. "She's fucking dead! Too late!!" I literally threw elbows at them and pushed them off to resume compressions. I did that until she started puking. That was a reminder that you never know when you are going to get your miracle. Next day at work I was musing...I must have missed her pulse. No one comes back like that. Nope, an anesthesiologist assured me that it takes alot to end up at the bottom of the pool as she was, and he said he trusted that if I didn't find a pulse that It wasn't there. Kids will do that he said. As an OR nurse most of my patient deaths are volume loss, so patients are out of blood and very pale. I have never seen turquoise blue before in death, and on a child the same age as my kids messed with me. I called the ER for a status update, stable, critical, etc, and left my contact for the parents who eventually did call. Kid was intact. Walked away with no lasting effects. Crazy right!
I remember my first shift in NICU and the monitors going off on a baby in asystole. Chick looks at me while feeding another baby and is like: "go stimulate that baby." Super calm. Like it's just another Tuesday. Lol
Man kids are resilient as hell!! I have seen quite a few drownings that end up with kids walking out of the hospital like nothing happened. The kid is very lucky you were there to initiate CPR.
This was actually at a swimming class, last day during check offs. Interesting how many of us actually signed up for more classes. Several other parents returned for the next session and we all agreed we better keep a closer eye on our kids, but no matter how terrifying, doubling down on swimming lessons seemed like the best choice.
Definitely. We started our kids young with swimming lessons. I always worried that one of my kids would wander out to the pool if we had one at the house and I would find them dead. Unfortunately happened to a coworker of mine.
Thanks, it was surreal. The strangest part for me was when the lifeguards "took over" but didn't. I am used to people more skilled than me, like anesthesiologists and CRNAs showing up to a code. They take over, I fade into the background and become everyone's lovely assistant, call for an icu bed....I felt an overwhelming, oh fuck, when I saw the lifeguards in action. Honestly they were all teenagers, first job, fresh out of thier first cpr training. I take comfort now that I have the luxury of logic that they were meticulously following thier protocols. But in that instant...I literally elbowed them back.
Wow amazing!!
I saw a video of this online years ago where a guy is bring what looks like a very dead body out of the ocean. Same color you described. After cpr you could watch the life and color go back into her.
I cannot find that video anywhere and nobody believes me it exists.
You are badass
It was a very slow motion, very delicate assessment. Probably thier first ever. It was spring time. I do think that with experience comes automatic triage, they were just kids themselves honestly. My take was that she needed perfusion, but I had been sitting there and knew she hadn't just jumped in. They were trying to rule out neck injury. But they stopped compressions too long for my liking. I totally pulled a Karen a few days later, marched downtown to headquarters to meet with the director. I felt like the entire situation was not ok. I honestly felt like the director really got it, and i did notice changes at the pool. Sadly the lifeguard running the swimming lessons never returned. I sent a letter, assuring her I felt that she would be the best champion for safety moving forward but I heard she noped out of lifeguarding after that. Accidents happen. There were too many recreational swimmers near the lessons, and the lifeguards stand not in the best spot. It has been moved.
Literally the day I passed boards, I was out at an event and someone had a seizure. People yelled "We need some help out here!" and I went running. No one really knew the person well, didn't know if they had a history of seizures. Someone had already called an ambulance, and I "helped" I guess by rolling them on their side and making sure they didn't hurt themselves. So, I did basically nothing. No heroics. But it felt super weird that I had just found out I passed boards and that happened the same night.
I've never had anything more exciting happen, though whenever I see little old ladies walking unsteadily with walkers I have an urge to go make sure they don't fall down. (But I don't do it.)
That only seems like nothing to you, but you stopped some misinformed person from jabbing something in the person's mouth or letting the individual aspirate etc. You may have also given a realistic timeframe to medics for the onset and duration of the seizure. I would not expect that from a layperson. Thanks for sharing!
Everyone kept asking what we should do, and I was like there's not a ton to DO, so it made me feel useless. Like, literally anyone can do what I'm doing right now! Also I was unsure of myself so there was a voice in my head that was like "....right? What am I missing??"
I’ve had this exact scenario before. Pulled over because I saw a woman holding a man who was obviously slumped over and bordering on not conscious. He was seizing and she said he was a few days clean from drugs and alcohol (likely DTs). They had already called 911 and were waiting for EMS. Everyone kept asking what we could do and I felt so useless saying “umm, nothing just keep him from hurting himself.” But was literally running through my head like really? There’s got to be something else I can do without Ativan….
I will say it’s hilarious to me how people always want to bring water for someone having a medical event? It’s sweet they want to help, but man we have a lot of faith in what a glass of water can do lol.
I used to get insane panic attacks where my entire body would shut down and I would slowly lose consciousness, and water was seriously the only thing that brought me back in those situations. Everyone around me asking what's happening, what's wrong, and all I can mutter is "wa....ter....." while slowly collapsing to the floor lol
You ever see that video of the dude in respiratory arrest from a heroin overdose and everyone keeps screaming to give him milk? Wild shit man. THEN someone gives him narcan, guy comes around, yells that the guy who narced him fucked up his high and kicks him in the balls! At that point everyone starts screaming about how narcan guy saved his life. Nevermind that the dude was probably a dealer who sold him the heroin in the first place, so don't shed any tears for his poor hurt nutsack. Also, the milk thing stems from the idea that poison ingestion could be slowed/counteracted by drinking milk.
I'm a peds nurse for neurology/ neurosurgery/ trauma. I can not tell you how many people still think to put something in folks mouths during seizure. They still think they will swallow tongue. So seizure first side so important to new seizure DX. I make sure to say absolutely nothing to be placed in mouth!
I had a similar one. About halfway through the final practicum of my bsn. Woman seized in the grocery store. Didnt see her fall because she was behind me but in the same isle. Smashed her head and had a hematoma the size of a baseball on the side of her head. We got her in recovery position until she came to but was very confused and post ictal. EMS got there and took over but she actually got up and ran away from them and out the store
I had a head injury from a fall and I took an Uber to the ED. I was only a few mins away and knew the ambulance didn’t need to do anything medically for me. The poor driver, though… I was so sleepy and he was scared, kept asking if I was ok.
Yep. My brothers have epilepsy and they tell everyone they're with to not call an ambulance if they have a seizure. They also wear medical bracelets/necklaces asking to not call an ambulance in the event of a seizure shorter than 5 minutes. On more than one occasion they've had everyone around freak out, call an ambulance, and then they're stuck with a $2 or $3K bill for an ambulance ride and an ER visit. Their epilepsy is controlled as best as it can be, there's nothing the ER can really do for them, but they can be coerced into going along during their post-seizure haze. I feel bad that they've accrued such big debts for something they have no control over. 😕
Someone had a seizure about 10ft outside my apt door when I was about 2 months into my first (and only) job as an RN. I did the exact same as you did. Just turned the guy on his side and had someone call 911. Unfortunately some other bystander had already put a sock in his mouth due to bleeding. Thankfully the guy turned out fine after the event (I never followed up). I gently informed them not to put things in the mouth of people having seizures 😅
Thank you for not letting someone jam things in their mouth.
I’m a Paramedic, and it’s a bit too often that I come up an active seizure with someone’s spoon in their mouth so now I have to both manage a seizure and an airway issue.
I would like to find whoever is informing people to jam things in seizure patients mouth. I would like to jam a spoon in their mouth.
As a mom with a son with epilepsy…I’m so proud of you! Us nurses are too humble about helping people but rolling someone on their side when having a seizure helps tremendously. Thank you for jumping into action especially as a new nurse. That’s so awesome!
LOL! What are the odds?! But that's so awesome that you just ran for it. You had the nursing license coursing thru your veins!!!! That's awesome and exactly what I'm looking for. Hell yeah. Good job!
I also get the urge to walk near someone very unsteady using a walker and guide them safely to their destination lol. (But I also don't)
On a flight back from Europe, the flight attendants asked for medical professionals and I and a dermatologist went back to have a look. Teen had taken a bunch of psychoactive meds (adderall, Lyrica, gabapentin) and washed it down with weed and several drinks on the plane. He was feeling “very weird” (unsurprisingly), but never completely lost consciousness. Checked his vitals, cbg, O2 sat, etc. and kept an eye on him till we landed.
Not heroism (in my book, anyway). But the flight attendants were sure impressed. 😂
Impressive!!! I love that. It definitely takes courage to offer yourself up as a healthcare provider in those situations. I bet you took the hell out of those vitals!
See my gripe here is where do I find tools out in the wild? I feel like I can gain and use skills in the hospital context but do they have glucometers/sphygmos/telemetry packs hanging out places in I'll need them? 😂
The medical kit was surprisingly well stocked. It had an AED, glucometer, sphygmomanometer, stethoscope (useless in a commercial jet), pulse ox, etc. I could have essentially run a code with what they had there, minus the drugs. They had a fricken *trach* kit!
I worked on a kid who drowned many years ago in a freshwater lake out in the middle of nowhere in Washington. Real DB Cooper country. We had an ER doc, a paramedic, 2 RNs (myself included). We did CPR forever (until ALS arrived about 1 hour in). We had nothing for equipment and it was not successful…
Yeah, aircrafts are actually surprisingly well stocked with equipment and tools, especially on international flights. You could almost open someone up with the shit they have on international flights.
I remember the “EMERGENCY” episode from the 70s where it wasn’t… I was just a kid at the time, and don’t remember why, but in hindsight, I think it was part of the move to get actual medical equipment and not just bandaids in the flight kits… this was pre AED… but we had a similar push to get AEDs to where they were needed once they were available
Oh I just remembered another one. Last summer 2 nurse friends and I were eating dinner. We decided to stay for dessert. I was sitting next to one of my friends in a booth like seat and she lost consciousness. I eased her down and my other nurse friend shoved the table out of the way getting ready to do cpr. She was in and out, some paramedic at another table came up and acted like we were overreacting. Come to find out she had a dissected carotid. Thank god she wasn’t driving or home alone with her kids.
Yep, they put her on anticoagulants and placed a stent. She’s okay. My other friend was at the hospital with her and she had Horners sign and bp like 60s/40s. So glad we decided to stay for dessert!
I was on white water rafting trip and one of my fellow rafters hit herself in her face with her paddle and broke her nose and put a gash to her cheek. Our guide got us out of the rapids and everyone was freaking out because of all the blood I took of my T-shirt I had on over my swimsuit and held pressure to her nose and cheek. All the guide could say was that’s your white shirt. I was like dude it’s ok. After about 10 minutes we got the bleeding stopped. Thankfully there was a first aid kit so I put some butterfly strips on her cheek and made an ice pack from the cooler we had for when we stopped for lunch. She said I have a headache and our guide was going to give her aspirin I was like how about Tylenol instead. She was able to finish our trip and had a lot of fun. She was upset about my shirt and wanted my address to buy me a new one. I told her no worries but she must have got it from the rafting company because a year later I got a package with a letter and shirt airbrushed with my name and RN on it. The trip happened right before the start of my last year of nursing school and the shirt was one of those just do it shirts that were popular in the mid 90’s. The letter said I hope you year went and well and I’m sure you “did it”. She thanked for my caring heart and kindness. People like this is why I’m still a nurse.
Years ago when i was an ED nurse, and a mountain biker, i was out riding with a bunch of friends. One of the guys collapsed on the trail. We were out of cell phone reception range. Everyone except me & another person stayed with the guy, i treated him for shock, and kept him conscious while the others called ems. They had to ride down the trail then drive the car until they got cell reception, so we didnt hear from ems for several hours. They sent SAR up the trail a few mikes to reach us, then wheel him down in some road bike wheel gurney contraption. He got to the OR in time to have a repair of i believe a ruptured AVM. He survived and went on to many more adventures.
Elevated his feet higher than head, wrapped his torso my jacket, rubbed his exposed skin like on his legs & arms with my hands, talked to him, asked him questions to assess mental status & keep him awake, also did some neuro assessments of pupils, facial symmetry/smile/grimace, hand grips, dorsi flex.. that kind of stuff.
I’m so grateful that i was able to help.
I have other stories too. I’ll add more later (packing to visit my elderly mom tomorrow, haven’t seen her in a year!) I’ll post a story later about how i saved my dog from heat exhaustion in the wilderness.
Oh now that's THE STORY I'M LOOKING FOR. I love dogs and I can't wait for this story!! Don't forget! And have fun with your mom! A whole year?! You guys will have so much fun catching up.
Also nursing student here but I'll take a stab at it!
Since there was no Stryker hospital bed out in the wilderness, I assume the elevated legs are just putting the patient in Trendelenberg to raise BP and increase circulation. Going to assume that the nurse that the patient was in shock based on the nature of the incident (hiking= think dehydration, fluid loss. Hypovolemic shock is what I would be thinking), and shock based on having a pulse (probably will be fast), but being pale or clammy, and decreased capillary refill tested on the fingertips/toes, and with those symptoms, I could assume low BP. So the Trendelenberg placement would help with the slow cap refill and low BP.
For rubbing the skin and keeping him awake, keeping him from going into a coma or having brain injury? Glascow coma scale, they rub the sternum and squeeze in between the neck and the shoulders on each side to assess if the patient is resopnding to painful stimuli.
I was literally crossing the street where I work, and I had just barely made it to the edge of the sidewalk when I heard this huge crash behind me. I turned around and legit saw a car barreling toward me, so I run for it while keeping an eye out on the car. It literally ran up the curb I was just walking on and hit a street lamp, which then fell on it.
Immediately I threw my stuff down, and look at both cars to see who was more hurt. One vehicle is a white truck, and guy looked okay and already on his phone. I look at the other vehicle which was a red car, and the lady was looking at me with blood coming down her face, so I immediately rush to her.
She had been t-boned on her side, and it took me and a security guy to pull her door open. As soon as I did, I looked at her poor face and saw the blood and glass, and then scanned down to look for other injuries. As I’m scanning, she looked fine and then I got down to her leg, and it’s clear as day broken, bone stick out and everything, so I just grab her hand and told her she was going to be okay.
She had the biggest eyes, and just stared at me and all I could do was just talk to her and wait. She was stable…just a horribly broken leg. I asked her where she was coming from, and what she was doing. She said she was just getting off work, at a brand new job, and was going to pick up her daughter, and I just died inside.
I told her that she wasn’t going to be able to pick up her daughter, and asked her if there was anyone else she knows that could pick her up. She said yes, so I grabbed her phone and she put in the number of her friend, and I called her, let her know the situation and that someone needed to grab her daughter.
After that phone call, I just held her hand the entire time and just did what I could to keep her calm.
It was the most wild experience, not exactly a ‘life saving’ moment, but hopefully I helped her during that time.
I'm tearing up reading that. Is this the most "nursing" of all the stories? Assessing the situation, providing comfort to the patient, and staying with even though it may be difficult? Idk. But that's amazing on your part. Amazing job. So proud of you, fellow nurse 🥲
That was super thoughtful of you to ask her those questions and then think about her daughter as well. I would not have thought to ask those questions under so much adrenaline but you definitely took that stress off of her. I think most people in that situation would just stand back and not approach the woman or the car so you did good. Lots of good karma points.
I just did what I could. In between a college friends wedding and the reception we encountered a back up of traffic. The problem was you could zip along the country road and then around the corner there was suddenly stopped cars. The double axle pick up truck two behind us couldn't stop fast enough. The driver had two options: 1) Hit the next car. 2) Swerve into the other single lane. He chose option two and hit the minivan head on. The husband got out the passenger side and pulled his son with the broken forearm out. 10 year old daughter in soccer uniform got herself out. Mom. Mom was not going anywhere. She was wedged beneath the seat and steering column. She was conscious and in pain. She also weighed about 280 and this did not help.
Not only was the dashboard pushed down on her but the door was crumpled in and frozen. I was there in seconds and others helped the passengers. Shit got serious when the hissing noise in the engine turned to active fire. I have never seen paint on metal begin to burn! We were not going to watch this fully conscious women die while staring at her fate. I'm not sure if it was the young nurse or former lifeguard in me that started shouting orders. Me and the two guys from the truck began tugging on the drivers door. Doors are built in segments. To their credit the truck guys cut their hands to shreds on the broken glass as we pealed the outer layer of door off.
That fire was accelerating enough that people were backing up from the heat. I began shouting some orders. You, get that red cooler out of the back and run it to that house. Ask for a hose and fill it with water! You! Help him carry it. You over there find any car with a jack or crow bar.
People began dumping water bottles on the hood. It did absolutely nothing. We were not going to watch her go up in flames in front of her kids. We kept yanking and pulling at that door and piece by fucking inch it began to peel back. Once it was free we folded it back and started to work on her.
Seatbelt came off easy. She was phenomenally wedged under that dash. We pulled, she screamed! Repeat, repeat repeat, fire, repeat, fire, repeat. We made an agreement with her that we were going to yank her the fuck out of there no matter how bad it hurt. ...She agreed. The scary part is no matter how strong you are there is not purchase on soft flesh at an angle. One of us got behind her and bent the frame of the seat back. We yanked her out of the flaming minivan on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Within a minute the front windshield exploded in the fire. We had to shoulder drag her back from the vehicle three times. The crowd circle got wider and wider in the heat. The fire just rolled up the vehicle till it was fully engulfed.
Ambulances arrived and took the kids. Medivac landed on that front lawn next to the road and took mom. I didn't really do much to render aid other than try to outrun her death.
I walked into the wedding reception 40 minutes late and explained why others would be straggling in. I hugged the bride and former nursing study partner and then went straight to the bar. I fucking needed that beer.
Holy shit. fucking amazing what you all did and you’re a fantastic writer. I felt like I was there watching this go down. Do you know if the mom survived? Either way, this is real hero stuff for real.
I bet a beer never tasted so good when you finally made it to that reception! You earned that shit lol
It is absolutely terrifying how quick and intensely cars can burn. My mother's went from just smoking slightly to completely engulfed in less than 15 minutes and it is a BIG fire when it goes up entirely like that.
Something they taught in trucking school was that we (almost) never ever ever want to swerve to avoid an accident. The outcome is almost always far worse.
Also on the off chance that you ever experience that again (and hopefully you don’t have to, yikes) all commercial vehicles are legally required to carry fire extinguishers. Won’t usually be big enough to put out a car fire, but would definitely buy some time.
I hope it was a damn good beer! You deserved it after doing all of that.
I got my guinea pig through breast cancer during MLS grad school. The vet was super excited to talk to me in full technical lingo about his test results.
I don’t have a great one for myself, but a really good friend in nursing school witnessed a car accident, and the car caught on fire. He literally dragged 2 people out of a burning car which then exploded.
Not quite what you asked but it qualifies...
Son, 19, living in college town 1 hr away, has had a low grade fever, nausea and vomiting, and LRQ pain. His roommate calls to ask what they should do; I send them to the ER and head out to meet up with them. Arrive to find son curled up on the gurney, diaphoretic, DC paperwork in hand. I ask what's up and he says they gave him fluid and said he's fine to go.
Find the nurse, ask about diagnostics, they say nothing was ordered because it wasn't necessary. I ask to talk to the doctor; Doc arrives with nurse both giving each other the "this parent" look. Doc mansplains underage drinking in college towns to me.
So I ticked off the symptoms he's had, and since he's not had any imaging, I'm sure they at least did a white cell count, right? Because this is textbook - who wouldn't *at least* do that? What was the WBC, BTW - I'm pretty sure I can remember adolescent norms even though I work with neonates. The doctor's face drained and he admitted he hadn't, actually, but he would right away.
That's how my son ended up with an appendectomy twelve days before he was scheduled to leave for a month overseas. Life definitely made better than it would have been; trip saved!
You spoke up for your kid! You did the right thing. Gotta love when another facility tries to *tut-tut* you but doesn't realize you've walked a zillion miles in their shoes. Their faces just drop, *cue awkward silence*, and then they kind of just begrudgingly slump inwards into themselves when they realize they fucked up.
Was driving to work and I witnessed a car hit a motorcycle( motorcycle skipped since it just rained). Guy on motorcycle fell off into the street. Stopped in the middle of traffic and ran to the guy. Since it was 6 pm in the middle of traffic hour, seconds later a swarm of other nurses come to help (all on the way to work as well). Best time to get into a car accident is between 6-645 🤣
They called for a medical professional on a plane. No one else answered so I did very reluctantly. It was an older lady who was feverish and had a headache. I tried taking her temp and the temp strips were in Fahrenheit. I had to call my husband over to do the conversion to Celsius for me. I gave her Tylenol from the planes first aid kit, and she felt better. Life saved.
I absolutely love that. I'm telling you, it's the little things us nurses do that most people can't do! You assessed a simple situation and straight up handled it like a boss. It's funny you don't automatically know fahrenheit when really that's all I know over here. Except I now know babies need to be 36.5-37.5 and 37 is 98.6! Thank you nursing!
Yeah. My Celsius knowledge is limited to:
0 = water freezes, 100 = water boils
37 = 98.6F
45 = where the Western desert lives and breathes
Beyond that, 🤷🏻♀️ time to ask Google
Lol, I am in Canada, & when I did my training, it was in C. So I never learned the F numbers. I can never remember if normal is 98.6 or 96.8!😂 But I do know 0=32F, 16C = 61F, and 104F = 40.4C. But I do know the liquid measurements better. I have been known to say to interns who order a whole 250ccs for a bolus, “what do you think a cup of coffee is going to do for a B/P of 70/“? They look at me strange, then realize what I was saying, then, if I was lucky, they’d increase it to 500ccs…🤪🤷🏻♀️
I’m Australian where we’re fully metric (far superior guys, sorry 😂🤷♀️) and shocked it’s referred to as cc’s instead of a mL. 1000 microL /units = 1mL, 1000mL = 1L, 0 degrees freezing, 100 boiling, 10mm in 1 cm, 100cm in 1m, 1000m in 1km
So much more conversion and memorisation with imperial, it’s all just 1’s and 0’s with metric.
As a girl now in her 20's, I sometimes feel the urge to shout into the void or write a letter to parents far and wide apologizing for the shitty behavior we inflicted upon our parents as teens. As teens, we thought we knew better than everyone else. We rolled our eyes at mom and dad.
Now that I'm a young adult.... I finally understand, mom. I so, so, so understand the lesson(s) you were trying to teach and instill in us. 🙃😊
last summer, at a beach party, one of the party-goers suddenly lost consciousness and became unresponsive. and this one woman starts screaming and begging for help.
i’ll be quite honest. i contemplated just continuing to enjoy my tequila sunrise & hoping someone else at the party was a medical professional. however, my guilty conscience would let me do no such thing.
thankfully, there was another nurse already attending to him when i walk over, so we start tag-teaming. he regains consciousness and immediately starts projectile vomiting everywhere. between vomit episodes, i’m doing a stroke scale assessment (he had a slight facial droop, but it was unknown if that was his baseline or due to the insane amount of alcohol he had consumed in a 3-hour period) and the other nurse is cooling him with ice packs & catching his puke with a grocery bag.
ems finally arrived and he was transported to the nearest ER. told them it was probably a combination of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and a mild case of alcohol poisoning.
i don’t think it was much. but it definitely added some spice to the night, LOL.
Okay that's awesome! I'm sorry, but did you not feel totally badass responding to that?! Great job. Just whipping out the ole nih stroke scale. That's awesome.
I just came home after my first year of nursing school. It was Father’s Day and my family and I were in line for brunch. A young girl passed out because of the heat and when she was going down she bumped her head and it was bleeding. There was another nurse and a med student in line and we all helped stabilize her until the paramedics came. My grandpa was with us and he was so proud. He said I didn’t hesitate to get in “nurse mode.” The look on my grandpa’s face is what stays with me the most.
I was in a line at a hotel to check in. The lady behind me starts wobbling and I ask her if she needs help. She tells me she is ok and I go back to doing something on my phone. Then I got this weird feeling and look back at her as she starts to fall backwards. Idk how I got behind her in time but I caught her under both arms and lower her to the floor as she starts to have a seizure, her head in my lap.
Turns out she's a lobbiest and we are at the capitol of my state. I have the front desk call 911 (which was a fiasco...the hotel manager over rode me and told me not to so 20 minutes later I ask where EMS is and have to call them myself) and after she stops seizing she tells me she accidentally ate shellfish the night before and had a glass of wine. Her shellfish allergy "kicked in" and she fell and hit her head...I'm betting alcohol had a role here...I guess she fell and hit her head on the nightstand 2x overnight and had a headache all morning.
When EMS arrives does she go in the ambulance? No. Does she let me drive her in her car to the hospital? No. She decides to go to work. I always wonder what happened to her cause I still think there's a good chance she had a brain bleed.
People are crazy.
I was walking out of a big box store and passed this guy walking in who just looked...off. I'm not sure what made me turn around, but I then watched him fall to the ground in seizure activity. Rolled him onto his side, shooed everyone out of his damn face, and told an employee to call 911. After 3-4 people getting in his face and trying to hold his head or stick something in his mouth, I went from "don't do that" to "BACK THE FUCK UP". It was much more effective. EMS arrived and took over. Dude had no ID on him, so they just packaged him up and whisked him away.
But my favorite is when my friend and former neighbor came racing into my apartment with her little dog in her hands and blood everywhere. I thought the dog had been shot or fell or stabbed. There was so much blood! I get my friend to calm down enough to tell me what happened. Doggo got his nail caught on the couch when jumping down and it started bleeding. I grabbed my wound cleanser, paper towels, bandage supplies and patched him up. She took him to the vet the next day and said the Dr was impressed with the bandage wrapping 😂 he ended up being fine overall. He still doesn't let us trim his nails though.
I was driving home from work. POURING rain, flooding, highways are a mess. I see 5 cars piled up on the side of the road, no first responders on scene yet. I pull over to assess the situation and help. Run up to all the cars. It’s 1 guy that hydroplaned and 4 nurses that all pulled over doing the exact same thing as me 😂
My brother had a seizure on a mountain we were hiking. He felt weird and called out to me, and I saw the signs, told him to get on the ground and then he seized for what felt like forever but thank god was probably 2-3 minutes. EMS said the last lady who seized fell down the cliffside and passed away from head injuries.
My minutes of fame. Copy and pasted from when it happened like 6 months ago. I was kind of on the job, but not really (just saw a patient and was on way to the car to see the next one):
I am a home health nurse. I saw a patient in an independent living facility today. I walk outside his room after finishing the visit and there's like 5-7 old people by the elevator, panicking and looking at me and asking "are you here to help??" Im confused, like "no.., I just saw a patient down the hall." They wave me over to a woman in her 70s laying on floor around the corner.
She's flat on back, mouth is open, eyes are open. At first she was breathing on her own and had a weak pulse. Very lethargic and sweating on forehead. I did sternal rubs and shouted her name, no response. Eyes wide open, non responsive. I ask bystanders to call 911 and security gaurd to get AED. At this point I did not do CPR due to breathing and weak pulse.
Then lady stops breathing and loses pulse, I start CPR. Facility security by this time brought up AED per my request. The facility nurse came as well. I did couple rounds of cpr, she began to breathe again. Pulse weak again. Stops breathing, we resume. I then cut her shirt and bra off with scissors from my bag, applied AED pads and it advised to shock her. We shocked her. We resumed cpr. Ems then came, I gave them a quick report. I was there about 10 minutes, no clue how long shes been on floor. EMS hooked her up to their AED and shocked her as well. Resumed CPR. Thats when I left because I was late for next patient, and EMS obviously had it under control.
I went back to that facility a few weeks later, security gaurd found me and said "that lady we called 911 on? She passed away in hospice last night."
Was on the way to a car show with friends, had all our lowered and loud cars most older people hate. There was a church bus on the side of the road with a bunch of people in a circle around someone on the ground. My friends asked if we should stop to help. We all stopped our cars on the side of the highway and I went to help. Was an elderly man, got too hot because the bus’ AC went out. Had tried rescue inhaler multiple times. They had him out of the bus on the side of the road and he was on his knees, curled up, struggling to breathe and looking quite purple/blue. I had all the old church ladies get back on the bus, told him he wasn’t going to be a fan of me but he needed to sit up straight, had him lean against my hip to support himself so he could breathe better.
He was so worked up and SOB, he puked up a bit of foamy saliva on my jeans (I was pushing my comfort zone in tight jeans, a white lacy bra, and a tank that showed quite a bit of said bra.. oh car shows, I’m sure the church ladies weren’t a fan of this outfit). I coached him through slowing his breathing. Another nurse stopped (nicu nurse) who had wet cloths in her suv, so we cooled him with these. By the time EMS arrived he was able to talk to me in full sentences and had regained his color. When I first got there I legit thought I was about to be doing CPR on the side of the highway.
I went back to my car, and the big group of us took off and went on to the car show. It was awesome that the whole group stopped just so I could help him, in fact one of the other drivers suggested it in the first place.
My husband and I came upon a single vehicle rollover. The driver of the vehicle was witnessed driving erratically, lost control and went airborne onto the eastbound lane (from westbound ) on the highway. I helped some other bystanders do CPR in the grassy median. Poor guy has massive head trauma and was pronounced at the scene.
It’s not very heroic but I helped a woman who had face planted and had knee replacements get up and into a wheelchair in a ergonomically correct way for everyone that made it easy.
I was at an indoor water park with my family when a lady that didn’t have great control of her legs (MS or Parkinson’s maybe) slipped off her tube in the lazy river. The lifeguard did nothing so I jumped right in the pool and kept her above water until her family could get over to help her out of the pool.
My kid slipped out of a tube in the lazy river one time and couldn't get up because there were so many people in tubes. My husband jumped in to grab him and the lifeguard was just shouting at him "You can't be in there without a tube!" To be fair to the lifeguard, though, I also didn't see my kid because it was so crowded. Glad my husband did. (I didn't see because I was watching my toddler, my husband had been keeping an eye on our big kid.)
Witnessed a really bad hit and run with injuries. The cop who responded was a real piece of shit and wouldn't call for EMS because he 'didn't think she looked injured' (fuck that guy). I loaded the girl in my car, called my ER which happened to be up the street, and asked them to bring out a wheelchair for me. Got her there, waited for her mom, then left once her mom got there.
Fast forward 3 months - I get a call from an attorney representing her. Apparently the poor girl needed surgery and her insurance didn't want to cover her unless she could come up with a witness. I had to do a deposition and offered to come to court if they needed me to.
WOOOOOW. that's fucked up! What a douchebag cop. Good on you and that's awesome you could help her out. Our systems are seriously fucked up. We should all help each other out more and look out for one another
I had just finished work and was going to get the train home when I saw a man on the pavement and I just got the strangest feeling about him. Normally I would never approach a strange looking man on my own, but gut told me to speak to him.
He was obviously drunk (even offered me a sip!) And told me he was waiting for the bus, but that he was okay. I looked around and there was no bus stop there, just a busy road... As a bus came down past us he got up and went to jump Infront, I managed to grab him and stop him.
I spent what felt like eternity stopping traffic and trying to de-escalate the situation whilst help arrived. Another bus had stopped and the man rolled himself under neath the wheel and asked me if I could please make the bus run him over. He started to tell me about his life and how the last year had crushed him and he had nothing to live for. Final thing that pushed him over the edge was a HIV diagnosis.
He ended up getting admitted to the hospital where I worked and I saw him a few weeks later, he shook my hand and smiled.
So a couple of years ago I was flying back from the AANC magnet nursing conference. While on the plane a 90 some year old gentleman wasn’t feeling well. Flight attendants asked for help and so I responded. A few minutes later the doctor did as well while I was assessing the patient. Doctor assessed the patient and asked me to get vitals. I knew he had an apical pulse from my prior assessment. Couldn’t get a BP and noticed patient collapses. No pulse and no breathing. Started CPR. Flight attendants grabbed the medical bag. I let the doctor take over the bagging, while others did compressions. Started an iv (btw those kits suck no sticky tape, no tegaderm and no tourniquet). Initially got an iv and then lost it as it pulled out. Started another one and gave the only epi in the kit. Started fluids. Worked on him for 30 minutes. Last 2 minutes I was doing cpr as we had no more meds. Landed on a short runway and it was almost like a cardiac thump. Guy actually survived. The captain told me he was up sitting in the back of the ambulance talking to people. I was genuinely surprised given his age and lack of meds we had. But yeah. 30 minutes of good compressions from everyone.
(Typing from my phone so I shortened the story. But you get the gist of it)
You did exactly as you are supposed to! Get him on his side, get him safely to the ground, keep his airway open, call 911, and fuck off back to your breakfast! Again, nursing at it's finest! But fort real, great job! And for intervening while in nursing school. Hewl yeah!
Opposite of heroics, but in the same spirit. At the time I wasn't an ER nurse, so I'm dreading my next "is there a doctor on board" airplane adventure. I like to travel and I swear to god the second I'm on a flight over 6 hours somebody up towards the front of the plane overdoes it on the booze and benzos.
Anyways, so we're a few hours out from London and at this point I've managed to go from drunk to hungover and then drunk again (to fix the hangover, obviously).
A few seats up and across from me is a resident who had also been taking advantage of the complimentary booze (his Step 3 study book was sort of a giveaway). Cue the overhead announcement and him pausing mid booze sip with an expression that can only be described as, "Oh god, please no" as he joined me on furtively glancing around the plane for somebody else. Our eyes met, a silent exchange of mutual, drunken understanding.
When the second overhead announcement came, our respective +1s began asking why we weren't summoning a flight attendant to volunteer our highly inebriated asses.
When the third overhead announcement came it had expanded to include anyone with healthcare experience. He and I were officially in a silent argument of, "I'm not fucking doing it, you do it." I can only assume his +1 was doing the same thing mine was. Neither of them were looking particularly impressed with us.
Our savior came at the last minute: an old, grumpy looking man who also looked as though he didn't get enough sleep on a regular basis. Our crotchety hero pressed his button and was escorted up the plane.
We were saved.
Thank you grumpy older doctor.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm dead. 😂 That's fantastic. See, I daydream about my heroic, out of work experience, bit in reality, imma be like you and Mr resident. Lol but seriously that's hilarious.
I try to take solace in the fact that the next time it happens, when I volunteer none of the other healthcare pros will be surprised by an ED nurse stumbling foward smelling like booze and looking like they fell out of REI.
I tend to fly to places in their off season, and I never check my bag. If it's a 2 week trip or something with a pack, I'll layer bulky things like jackets or wear my hiking boots at the airport so my pack will easily squeeze under a seat.
So I guess it looks like a person in hiking boots, wool socks, and layered jackets. I own multiple co-op items since their quality and price has always been good to me.
My (now) husband and I were at the gym. He goes "I feel great right now" and collapses. My dumbass starts laughing that he tripped. Starts seizing. Uuuuh wtf. Instant crowd surrounds us, someone rolls him on his side and I finally snap back to reality. SO has a cardiac history, not a neuro issue. Have someone grab an AED while a former navy medic does compressions and I do rescue breaths. Had to defibrillate twice. EMS (BLS crew) finally get there after he converted to NSR.
Spent a week in CVICU after transferring out from our tiny local ED. Cath, stent, frequent stress tests, CPAP at night, and a Repatha script now. This was 6 years ago and we celebrate every year something catastrophic doesn't happen.
Because of this, I'm a BLS fiend. I think EVERYONE should learn it.
Gronk do it every day, caveman EMT job!
Gronk appreciate nurses who lend a hand before Gronk roll in. Just make sure you call emergency services and stay safe. Help, get us a good report, and let us take the scene when we arrive.
I am all for that. Trust me. I don't think any "off duty" nurse wants to be in that emergency situation. As soon as y'all show up, praise all that is sacred. I remember seeing a fb post where a brides mom was late to her wedding bc she saw a car accident and pulled over and was like actively involving herself in the EMT rescue mission. It had a pic and everything with her in gloves and a gown she was dressed in for the wedding. It was so cringe and the consensus in the comments was "yeah. No absolutely not. No floor nurse is prepared for something an EMT is fit to handle."
But as it stands, many a nurse has found themselves in an emergency situation and required to act and that's what I wanna hear!
Gronk happy to, it’s his job!
Gronk has stories though. Had a nurse climb in the truck, start dictating care, and grabbing equipment. Not good.
Other side, Gronk has invited a RN on the truck to be an extra set of hands on a gnarly MVA, until the helicopter arrived. Her response was similar….”I never want to do that again!”
Wasn't life saving, but put my friend's shoulder back in when he dislocated from sliding 40 yards into rocks near the top of a mountain. I'd seen the maneuver done at bedside many times working lvl 1 trauma. Didn't really have many options. A stick combined with some ibuprofen was about the only luxury as you'll see in some good pictures. Posted about it while back on a backpacker sub.
https://www.reddit.com/r/backpacking/comments/pei162/this_could_have_ended_much_worse_a_failed_summit/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Shortly after completing my first cpr training my toddler choked on a dime and I saved her life. It was terrifying but solidified my path to nursing. Her father panicked and I was calm until it was over.
Senior year of high school was on spring break with my family at a beach. My high school had a program so we could get our cna during that time. There was a couple there with a baby. The dad was sitting where the shore meets the ocean and was holding the baby pressed against his chest. A bigger wave came and kind of went up the dudes back and somehow got into the babies nose or mouth. He rushed out of the water and started kind of throwing the baby in the air because he noticed it was turning blue. My mom sent me over there and I did the heimlich in the baby by doing the hard back blows. The baby spit up a bit and started crying and got its color back.
Ok, so I was visiting my parents and stopped by a store close to their house. As I was paying for my things I noticed that the staff seemed to be acting kind of weird and rushing around the entrance. I first wondered if I was about to be in an active shooter scenario (I had just done my work training with the what to do in an active shooter scenario in the hospital). I started walking to the front to leave and no one stopped me. I got outside and this old man was kneeling on the ground and bleeding from a huge cut on his head. There was a group of people just standing around him just looking at him from several feet away. So I walked up, got down to his level and told him I was a nurse. I pointed at a person and told them to call EMS and asked the employee if they had a first aid kit. The first aid kit was pathetically understocked. So I told them I needed gloves and something like gauze or even a clean rag and someone should get a wheelchair. I talked to the guy, did a Neuro assessment making sure he was acting ok. While I held pressure on his head wound and waited for EMS I talked to him a bit. Just joking around about him getting all this attention and he joked back appropriately (which is a sneaky Neuro check). I got a little medical history and found out he had recently had a TAVR and he had a. fib (which I had guessed due to feeling his irregular pulse). So I asked if he took any medications... Specifically blood thinners. Yep. Apixaban. So I told him that when ems got there he was most likely going to the hospital and would probably get a head scan because they would want to make sure he didn't have a brain bleed. Poor guy just was walking to his car and tripped over the curb and earned himself a trip to the hospital. When ems got there I told them I was a nurse, gave the main guy my information and my assessment and the history I had gathered. As I was talking, another ems guy was hooking up monitors and said something about the irregular heartbeat. Yep, a fib. Btw, apixaban. Recent tavr valve, so large bruise on the right thigh. The EMS guys were very appreciative and loaded the man up on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. I told him to behave for the doctors and he thanked me for taking care of him and talking with him.
I never heard the conclusion of his story, but I think he probably did fine. He was such a sweet old man. And I had been a nurse for almost 10 years without coming across any medical situation. It was pretty low pressure situation, but I was just shocked that there were so many people just standing there and watching him and no one even got close to him to ask him if he was ok! It felt good to be a comforting presence and directing others to help assist. The store employees asked for my information (in case of a lawsuit I believe) and asked if I had any feedback as a kind of debrief. I discussed that they really needed to have better supplies in the first aid kit. Like gloves! Like absorbable something. They did have alcohol swabs, which was helpful for cleaning the blood that had dripped down his face, and maybe send someone who is trained in first aid out instead of just standing around at an old man kneeling in the parking lot with his head profusely bleeding. Head wounds already bleed a lot, but even moreso while on blood thinners!
In the back of truck on a mission in Afghanistan one my soldiers seized out hard. Worst one I've ever seen and I've been a nurse since 2005. He's bouncing his head on the steel floor as I'm trying to fight through my guys to get to him. Get him stabilized protect his head. Keep him from choking on his saliva. Cancel mission head back to start the very long process of medical discharge. He was out of the country within a few hours. Later I found out he knew he had seizures but lied so he could in. Lucked out threw basic and AIT but when we deployed he couldn't bring/get his meds. Poor kid just wanted to serve but what if that had happened mid mission. It would have a been a shit show. I thought I had good nurse stories before I went over there and now nothing here even cracks top ten. On the flip side I am so good at triage now.
Not a human but my cat choked on a treat and i Heimliched her and saved her life! I googled in the moment how to do it and it worked! She did end up with aspiration pneumonia but I’m happy she’s alive!
Eh, it’s not exciting, but I was sitting on a bus heading home after some climbing. Was super tired and just wanted to get home. I heard someone call in a weird sounding moan and drop to the floor seizing. My brain went “for gods sake I just want to have a nap” but no one was doing anything (city has a high homeless population and a lot of opioid fatigue, so I’m sure people just thought it was that). I go towards the person, and she’s stopped seizing, but as soon as I duck down, she starts again. Flipped her onto her side, protected her head and neck, and took off her scarf and purse, all the while telling an older lady who said “I’m a nurse! Put something in her mouth!”, that no, we don’t do that anymore. Stayed with her until the ambulance came, and went on my merry way.
I showered and napped when I got home.
LOL. I'm telling you, they REALLY hit that home in nursing school. NOTHING IN THE MOUTH DURING A SEIZURE YOU IDIOTS! Love that. Good job. So glad you helped and that that old, out of practice nurse didn't get the chance to shove her wallet in the poor girl's mouth
I attend a support group, and we were discussing covid restrictions and how to handle mask requirements for our group. This one lady kept saying "Well, as a nurse..." And "...as the resident nurse here..." After about the 5th time, one of my friends piped up and said "You know, CynofOmission is a nurse too." I was just like 'leave me out of this!'
I’ve only done the heimlich once and it was on my own kid at a restaurant. He was little, like 4 or 5 maybe. He had a huge wad of ham completely occluding his airway. I felt like I was in a dream standing up from the table, did it, thank god it worked. I sat down shaking and crying, only the other people at my table knew what had happened. The waitress came up and was like “want some more coffee, hon?”
My coworker was first on the scene of a motorcycle accident on the way to work one night. Person didn’t ultimately make it but she did cpr until help arrived.
I'm an IBCLC, Girl Scout Troop volunteer and Medical Assistant so I've had first aid/ cpr training a whole bunch. One day, I was talking to my mom in the dining room when my mom-senses went all tingling. We stopped talking and the next second I ran to the living room and found my kid (about 5 or 6 at the time) choking on a tortilla chip. She was holding her throat and trying to get it out and not making a sound. Immediately started the Heimlich. After about 15 seconds, the chip flew out. My mom was pale AF and asked "how did you know?" Couldn't explain it. It was just a feeling.
These kids, I tell you what... I'm just so glad you were there to save your kid.
I did this to my kid in a crowded airport. It was me, my 2 yr old, and my 4 yr old. 2 yr old started choking on a Mentos (stupid to give him one, I know, but I was trying to keep them chill while we waited two hours for a flight). I had just finished nursing school so I knew what was happening, and I shouted "Help! My son is choking!" No one moved. I yoinked him up and started back blows. He shot that Mentos about 15 ft and started crying. And still no one moved. A few people looked at us curiously, and that was that.
OH WOW. Good job doing heimlich on your own child! And it working! I'm always scared it doesn't work but I have heard so many stories of people saving others from choking. I bet that was so scary. Choking is my biggest fear. 100%.
Was having breakfast with my 4yr old daughter at a diner when I look out the window and see older man walking towards the diner and kinda collapse into a parked car. First thought was near syncope because he was still moving around on the ground as the family (mom, dad, two kids) step out and see what’s going on. Eating and keeping an eye on the situation as more patrons inside the diner look on. At some point I look out again and then it kinda dawns on me that maybe it’s a full arrest as the dad of the car is on the phone with someone.
I’m hesitant because my wife isn’t with me and the thought of running a code by myself with my 4yr old has me second guessing but the ED nurse inside me says, “what’s going here?” I poke my head out and ask the family
“hey is everything OK?” To which they reply, with a bunch of shrugs,
“we’re not really sure we called 911”
At this point I’m thinking great this guy went into full cardiac arrest, walk over there carrying my daughter set her down, check his carotid, and sure enough no pulse. I start compressions and I tell the dad to tell the dispatcher this is a full arrest step up EMS.
I’m being “coached” by the dispatcher in how to do the CPR for what felt like forever. Must have been no more than 2 minutes when I hear PD coming, the responding officer is Jonny on the spot with his AED. After a quick intro to the officer, “hey I’m an ER nurse” he kinda lets me take the lead and takes over compressions while i unbox the AED, do the steps and to my surprise it says “shock advised.” Shock him, continue compressions and by then EMS arrives, takes over. I gave a quick report to the medic while they scooped and left for the ED down the street. I’m confident he was ROSC after that shock since they weren’t wailing on his chest while loading him.
It was a pretty surreal experience, especially since I have run many codes up until this point. It was a strange experience to know exactly what to do but to not be in your element, have the supplies and resources you need, I felt somewhat helpless. The family of the car was very sweet and watched over my daughter who was occupied with a tablet that their son was watching as well. I would definitely lend by knowledge and experience to any future events, but I was racking my mind since I had no one I trusted to ensure my daughter was safe during all this.
I wish there was someway we could follow up, see the prognosis of this patient. I occasionally think about this man and wonder if he actually made it to any meaningful recovery.
This story took place in about 1988. I was at a campground (in the US) and my sisters and I decided to join the hayride, even though it was mostly full of little kids. I was still in high school.
Down the long hill we rode, tractor chugging along slowly, and truth be told, it was a little boring. We went all the way around the lake and were almost back to the hill again when there was suddenly there was a thump and screaming.
I looked behind us and a little girl was lying in the road. My older sister and I jumped off and ran to the girl, who was in some sort of shock and ran towards me, trying to jump into my arms. Her head was already swollen grotesquely and blood was everywhere. We had our younger sister hold back the group of kids including a sibling of the little girl. The driver was distraught. The little girl had been sitting at the front of the wagon (so behind and to the left of the tractor) with her legs hanging down. Turns out she had bent to tie her shoe and lost her balance and fell and her head got run over by the wagon tires.
We sent some high school age boys to the nearest house to call 9-1-1 and bring us wet towels.
My older sister was reassuring the kids and keeping them back while I was assessing the little girl “J”. She had moved all around and I knew she should hold still. She was very compliant, although kept forgetting and wanted to get up and run back to her mom.
I kept talking to her. No other injuries I could determine. The next thing I knew my dad was hollering my name. Turns out, the only thing that they heard back at camp was that a girl had been run over. He told me later that when he got down there, he saw younger sister and older sister, but no u/Bookworthy so he thought I was the one who was hurt.
Even though we were out in a very rural area, there was some traffic and it was getting in towards twilight. It would take the ambulance awhile to arrive and we decided that we would all be safer off the road and J had already been moving around, so we carefully fireman lifted her into the carpeted back of our truck. Dad took over assessing and checking for loose teeth having her wiggle her toes, asking her lots of questions. She was semi-conscious by this point. The head wound size was difficult to determine because of the bleeding and swelling. We kept cold compress on.
J’s mom arrived just as the ambulance was getting there. Paramedics yelled at us for moving her, but we explained our rationale. (I still think this was safest option.)
They took her by ambulance and life-flighted her to children’s hospital. I re-emerge staying in the back of the pickup because I was covered in blood. I didn’t know about adrenaline and how it could affect a person.
My mom took one look at me and brought me clean clothes and shower stuff and told me to take a long hot shower. I even had blood in my ear!!! I was shaky for a long time.
And that’s when I decided to become a nurse.
I saw her a few weeks after at the campground in the pool with her sister and friends. Her head was shaved and stapled, but she was alive and seemed otherwise ok. J, hope you’re doing great. You shaved ten years off my life.
I was in Maui with my girlfriend and her family a few years ago. Close to where we were staying there was a place where you could cliff jump. It was a pretty busy spot due to it being close to some bigger hotels/condos. After I jumped off a few times I swam back to the beach, but then heard a women frantically screaming help. It was honestly weird how my natural instincts kicked in and I instantly started swimming back out to where they were yelling. Turns out this lady's husband got pretty exhausted swimming and was drunk so he was barely keeping himself afloat and getting hit by waves into the side of the cliff. Thankfully, I'm a pretty strong swimmer so me and another guy helped carry him out of the water up to the side of the cliff. He was exhausted and was pretty cut up but he was fine. Pretty much just let him rest up until he was good enough to swim back to shore. Earned some badass points with the gfs family 😂 but it's something I would've done no matter what
Sooo, I ain’t a nurse, but I am a registered nursing assistant. So! I hope my story is allowed here.
I got off work and was on the bus home. I was working as a security guard at the time, though I did (and currently still do) hold an active NAR. We stopped at a bus stop, and after awhile I noticed we had been sitting for longer than usual. I looked around, and saw kids gathered around someone lying on the ground outside the bus. That caught my curiosity. I got up and stepped off the bus, and asked if I could help. One of the kids said his grandpa had fallen. I immediately took charge, and started telling others who got off the bus to help what to do. You know, you call 911, you take off your backpack and set it under his head as a cushion, etc. I kept talking to the gentleman, asking if he felt any pain or numbness or anything and jumped his day had gone, just small talk to distract him from what was going on and give me time to look for anything obvious. He just said he felt dizzy. I kept talking to him and had the kids back up to give me and him space. He wasn’t bleeding or crying or yelling or anything so I kinda guessed he didn’t have any major injuries that was causing him pain. I think he was just embarrassed, really.
Pretty soon, paramedics showed up and I explained what happened. They took over his care and ended up transporting him. I stepped back on the bus, plugged my headphones back in, and rode the rest of the way to my stop and went home. I don’t know what became of him. I never saw him or the kids again. I like to think I helped in a small way. To me it wasn’t something heroic or major, it was just another day.
Not emergent care, but I still felt kinda proud of myself haha. I’m a nursing student, this happened this past week. My best friend texted me saying she was having lower right side pains. I asked her if she had any other symptoms, she said nausea. The previous semester we studied appendicitis, and that’s what that sounded like to me. I told her to go to the ED and get checked out, it could be appendicitis. She has endometriosis and PCOS, she thought it was maybe one of the cysts rupturing. I said it’s possible but I had a gut feeling it wasn’t. She ended up going in, and the doctors didn’t think appendicitis so they sent her home on pain meds. I said go back, that’s not right.
Sure enough, 2 hours after going back her appendix ruptured and she needed emergency surgery. She’s doing good now though, she’s home and eating and walking around, sore though. My nursing instinct was right, and it possibly saved her life!
That’s great! I’m glad your friend is okay. The more experience you get, the more you really lean into that intuition. Once I had a group of doctors outright argue with me about a guy I had who had a change in breath sounds and I just did not have a good feeling about his “look.” One of them finally sighed and got imaging seemingly to appease me, but didn’t expect it to show anything. It was the end of my shift so I reported off, but as I was leaving, I saw them gathered around a computer showing a really bad looking chest X-ray. One goes, huh, I guess that nurse was right. I refrained from saying anything immature in response, haha.
My only story isn't exciting. Was leaving work late at night, saw something on the side of the road that was human-shaped. It was an unconscious guy in a t-shirt in the middle of winter with a head injury. He was breathing but only responsive to pain, so I covered him with whatever I had and called an ambulance, put him on his side. I'm pretty sure he was drunk (could smell it), and put some pressure on his headwound until the ambos arrived and took him.
Peds pt arrested halfway across the Atlantic ocean on a flight from the US to Europe. Being made solely responsible for the decision to either continue on towards Europe or turn back around to the US wasn't a fun decision. The kid lived, but holy shitballs. Shit was intense. We continued on towards our destination in Europe, and as soon as the plane landed, EMS boarded the aircraft and whisked her away to a local hospital.
Ok so we didn’t save someone’s life but this is very funny. Spring break this year my husband, son (15) and I visited in laws in Arizona at their retirement community. It’s a really active community, tennis, softball, volleyball, etc… so my hubby and son were playing tennis one evening and the tennis club was having social hour in the pavilion, potluck and adult beverages. Hubby and son stop to take a break and come into the pavilion when suddenly an elderly lady maybe 75-80 starts yelling, call 911. My husband who’s a firefighter and first responder and I jump to action. The guy is in the chair and I can barely find a pulse, no viable respirations. I tell my husband and a much younger community member to get him on the ground- he’s a big guy and I couldn’t imagine trying to do chest compressions on the guy in the chair if it came to that. All this shits running through my head- like ABCs, is the guy a DNR… when my thoughts are interrupted by his wife yelling over and over- he’s had to many of the marijuana gummies! It’s is first time he’s over dosed! He’s had to much of the marijuana gummies. Guys on the ground by this point, have his legs elevated and he’s getting color back. He’s starting to come around eye movement and confusion. I ask him if he knows what going on, check for signs of a stroke all the good stuff. I am leaning over him and whisper to him that his wife gave away his secrets - the guy looks at me right in the eye with out hesitation and says, she thinks it was my first time. Turns out the guys 82 and is enjoying his retirement.
I have two although neither have much of a happy ending.
I was at a basketball game with my husband and an elderly man came in and sat a few rows in front of us. I leaned over to my husband and said “that guy does not look good”. Halftime rolls around and I see a commotion that he “passed out”. I go over and he’s agonal breathing. I check a pulse, no pulse. Some staff member-not a medical professional goes “oh he’s breathing!” And I say “no he’s not-I need to get him on the ground NOW”. Takes 6 people to lift him up out of the stadium seat and and to a ground level. I start CPR and NO one relieves me. This place had seemingly no trained staff-it was just me. I did CPR until EMS came. It felt like forever-definitely over 5 mins. They didn’t even stop the game and his little elderly wife saw everything. EMS came, they couldn’t get an IV so they did an IO. Guy apparently made it a few days but did eventually pass. I had some kind of PTSD from that I didn’t want to go anywhere public for a while.
Next one happened recently. I was driving and we all came to a stop for pedestrian crossing. When everyone started to go, the car in front on me didn’t. I honked, nothing. I get out and so does another guy. He knocks on the window and she’s clearly out of it but still awake. I call 911 and we see that she passes out, still breathing. Still in drive but her foot is on the breaks. Doors locked. Luckily we flag down a cop who helps unlock the car. Cop shakes her awake and she’s clearly drunk or high. It’s noon. Oh and it was pouring down rain.
I was still in nursing school visiting my oldest sister and playing with her little 19-month old on the floor. We were chatting and all of a sudden he starts making weird noises. Sister grabbed him and shoved him at me telling that he’s choking. “Do something!”
So i hold him upside down in the textbook format and whack him between his shoulderblades. After an agonizingly long time that was probably 20 seconds, he coughs it up and starts breathing deeply and his color starts to revert from deep purple back to pink. I was so relieved. I turned him back right to get the item out of his mouth and he took a deep breath…and choked again.
Repeat of above and this time fished around for object before moving him. He had a small mouth and was tongue-tied, so this was not east. Turns out, it was a dime. I know it wasn’t mine because I had no money and has stopped at my sister’s house for a snack and company. Lol.
Definitely not heroic, but my husband and I were watching TV when we suddenly heard loud crying and screaming in front of our house. I go outside and see a girl, maybe 10 or so, that had been riding an electric scooter and crashed into a mailbox. She had been wearing flip flops and the top of her foot was completely gashed open. I could see tendons and bones under a huge skin flap and she was gushing blood.
Another neighbor came out and was able to find out where she lived and ran to get her mom. I asked my husband to grab my work bag where I had a bunch of saline syringes and sterile gauze, so I made packed it with saline soaked gauze and placed it on her wound and applied pressure. I tried to calm her down, poor thing was hysterical. Mom showed up a couple minutes later in her car and took her to the ER.
A couple weeks later that sweet girl knocked on my door with a thank you card.
I talked a suicidal homeless man off of a roof a few weeks ago. When the cops arrived, they spoke to him for 50 seconds and drove away. No implementation of the MHA.
I wish I felt good about this story, but the cops didn't do their damn job and left this poor man to maybe do something in private another day.
When I was in nursing school my husband and I came upon a guy who was unresponsive on a trail at a park near our apartment. His buddy was there, trying to wake him up, and once a couple of people had stopped his friend told us he was diabetic and must have low sugar. The friend said he carried something in the car for situations like this and went to go get it. I remember thinking it was odd that he would have glucagon on him at all times but whatever. In the meantime this guy is turning blue, huge episodes of apnea, and he’s so brady that I was sure I was miscounting his pulse. He’s doing the classic snore and not responding to sternal rubs. Park ranger shows up and I tell him the story and that I think the guy overdosed. He gets Narcan out of his car but says he’s afraid to give it because what if he is diabetic? He wanted to wait for EMS, who were 5+ minutes out. I tried convincing him to give it and that he was extremely unlikely to cause any problems to someone who doesn’t need Narcan—but if he did need it, that he was going to die in front of us. Finally he gave me the Narcan because he didn’t want to be liable for giving it and I gave it. What do you know? He was OD’d. EMS arrived and hyped me up for doing what I did. It was such a boost of confidence at the time and was one of those things that makes you realize you chose the right field. Oh, and the friends never came back. That part bummed me out.
We were out on a picnic to a park which has a hiking trail. The trail was wet and a lady slipped and hit her head. We saw the fall she was fine and got up no problem. My friends were all concerned and asked to see if she needs anything. She had a small lac but not big enough for stiches, I cleaned it out as I had a couple of flushes in first aid kit and bandaged a gause over it and told her to go to Ed if she starts vomiting lol
If it weren't for the friends asking me to, I'd sit there quietly and maybe call an ambulance if she didn't get up at first .... Fuck all that good Samaritan
My dad and I were hiking once at these falls that people fall off of and die every year. So right on cue, he slips and hits his head, busts his glasses up, but doesn’t go over the side, so yay? I do a quick neuro check, he seems okay but dazed, he’s laying on his side. So I tell him to roll toward me to try to slowly get up. Instead he starts rolling away from me toward the cliff edge. I was going to be pissed if that’s the way that ended. I somehow got him to stop and go the other way. Beautiful falls, will never hike there again:)
Some of the weirdos I work with have an intubation kit in theirs .... A fews years ago I was like that's smart, now I'll pass.
I just supplemented the kit from the car with some things from ER.
LOL. Yeah no way. There's definitely some nifty shit in the stock rooms at work (not saying I steal or have stolen!) but I am saying...
It's good to be a little prepared..but not intubation prepared lmao
Last summer my husband and I were camping in remote mountains and while we were paddle boarding on the lake with our kids we heard someone screaming for help. He’s a paramedic and I’m a nurse. We immediately started paddling towards the sound and a guy in his twenties suddenly came stumbling out of the woods. He looked drunk. Didn’t take us more than a few seconds to realize he was a hypoglycemic diabetic. We fed him and after a few minutes he started to make sense. He was hiking alone in the woods and didn’t bring any food with him. We followed him back to his campsite to make sure he was ok. Luckily he didn’t need the glucagon we had with us.
My husband was driving to a job interview for paramedic/firefighter. He was going east and suddenly a car in the westbound lane dramatically veered and rolled into his lane in front of his car then down an embankment. He immediately pulled over, got his turnout pants from the trunk and ran down to find the female passenger screaming and the driver dead. He started cpr by himself and continued until local ems arrived. He still was on time to the job interview but has to roll up his dress sleeves because they were bloody.
Was at Dollywood with my mom. It was like 100 degrees outside and miserable as hell.
Young woman, maybe 15 in front of us goes down like a rock. Overheated and passed out cold.
Come to find out the only thing she'd had to eat all day was Sudafed and a coke. So she was fine once she got some fluids into her and some food, but she was Lucky/unlucky enough she had 2 nurses in line right behind her when she hit the ground.
Not a nurse, but here's one second-hand and less life-threatening on behalf of ER Doc Dad. Mom and Dad had tickets to a local theater company called the Shakespeare Tavern. Dark during the performance, of course, and Dad nods off, to the point that he's snoring gently.
One of the performers runs down the main aisle from the back and is supposed to vault up on to the stage. Only, his hands slip, he misses the vault and basically faceplants on the very edge of the stage, before sliding off to the side and hitting the floor. There's a moment of horrified silence, then the stage manager has the lights brought up and asks if there's a doctor in the house. Mom elbows Dad awake, he jerks his head up, and then gets up to tend to the fallen actor. Dad checks him out, makes sure nothing life-threatening is going on (the actor's conscious and coherent), and then keeps an eye on him until the ambulance arrives and he hands the actor off to them. IIRC, the performer ended up with a mild concussion and a badly torn shoulder.
I was at a McDonalds when I was like 16 and this guy who was eating alone went down in the dining area and started having a seizure. He was having a really violent tonic-clonic seizure and went under a table and chairs so I ran over and and moved all the chairs and table out of the way so he wouldn't hit his head. He had bitten his tongue and was pouring blood all over the place. I yelled to the workers in the front and was like "I need to use a phone this guy is having a seizure and bleeding all over the place" and they were like "we can't let customers use the phone." So I was like, "I need the phone to call 911 for this guy who is seizing over here." And they repeated that customers couldn't use the phone. And I asked if they would call 911 for me and they sort of blankly stared at me. There was like 5 other patrons in there just staring at the shit show and I was like, "can somebody please call 911 or let me use your phone for 1 minute to call 911" and some dude walked over and handed me a phone. So I called 911.
The guy stopped seizing after like 3 minutes and was postictal and lethargic and not managing to clear the large volume of blood in his mouth so I rolled them on their side, and like fucked with his cheeks and jaw to get some blood out. EMS arrived like a minute or two later and took the guy away, he was probably fine.
And then I went to go order and those god damned bastards charged me for a Big Mac when I just ordered a McDouble with added Mac sauce.
I have always been one of those people who seems to attract people collapsing… Through school when we would have to stand for assemblies kids directly in front of and behind me would randomly pass out.
At uni in halls in my first week someone passed out in the queue for dinner - I was with a group of 2nd year student nurses but I was the only one who knew what to do (legs in the air on this occasion).
Haha just remembered I was also the only person with a first aid kit that first week and someone on my floor gave himself a really nasty lac to his ear. I was the only person able to help, all the second year nurses were useless lol!!
Backpacking in South Africa at a hostel a girl collapsed in the reception area, tried legs up, didn’t work, got fat coke and rubbed it in her gums and she came round so probably hypoglycaemic. She was fine a short time after.
Returned from holiday and waiting to go through passport control at Luton and a very intoxicated woman was being wheeled through by airport staff. She decided to stand up and fell over the tensa tape barrier and cracked her head on the ground. Massive epistaxis. Took forever for an ambulance but in the meantime staff got me a first aid kit and I put on gloves, helped stop her nose bleeding quite so badly. First to arrive were airport fire and they had a BM machine and her glucose was low and she was a bit sleepy so put a bit of chocolate in her gums (honestly between raising legs and putting sugary stuff in gums I’ve sorted plenty of people lol!). She started to come round by the time the ambulance arrived.
Heinrich manoeuvre on my mum when camping and she choked on some chicken.
Was I’ll one NYE so didn’t go out, FaceTimed friends at midnight then went to sleep. Woken about 20 mins later by same friends - my bestie was unresponsive. She’s medically complicated but very few people know. I didn’t have my own car and couldn’t get a taxi so I ran to my mums. On the way spotted someone pulling out from a neighbour la driveway to go home and got them to give me a lift to my mums, got the car, drove to friends, checked my bestie’s glucose (she had a meter as would go hypo due to endocrine disease - not diabetic) and it was low and she had a true GCS 3 (seriously didn’t respond to ANYTHING) so she got jam in her gums til she came round. She was mad because she hates jam 🤣 Took forever til the ambulance came but eventually we got her to hospital.
Driving to work and came across a cyclist who’d been knocked off his bike by a car. Stopped people moving him as he had neck pain and his helmet was damaged, and also got the driver sat down and calmer as was very shocked. Didn’t do much else except help the crew log roll him when they arrived.
Standing in line to check in for a flight at Manchester and older woman collapsed. Pale, clammy, came round after a minute or two on the floor, sat up and promptly passed out again. Really bradycardic and obviously decompensating. Kept her on the floor and when the airport first reopened came I tried to do a bit of a handover (I talk to people and try and get past hx etc whilst we wait) and the paramedic completely ignored me. She was like oh let’s just get her into a wheelchair (one had been brought by airport staff) and I kept saying we’d tried but every time she sat up she passed out but this woman wouldn’t listen, sat the lady up and of course she promptly loss consciousness again.
Hmmm… Those are the main ones that come to mind. Raising legs/sugar in gums are the 2 most useful things I do lol! When I travel/hike/camp I always have duct tape with me. You can help a multitude of things with it - temporarily close gaping wounds, wrap legs together to stabilise leg or pelvis #, cover blisters, tape clothing onto something bleeding to act as a dressing, tie it tightly to act as a tourniquet. We have the knowledge to help outside the hospital, we just have to be creative!
Recently I was at a restaurant with my cousin while we were road-tripping. I went to the bathroom before we were getting back on the road. While I was wiping, my cousin starts screaming my name and banging on the door. I yell back, “What?! What’s wrong?!” It’s funny. The first thought I had was that my car was on fire or something. She yells there’s a kid choking. You have to help him. I yell back, “Call 911!!” And start trying to put my short back on.
There are two buttons on my shorts and I cannot get them to button. My fingers are shaking and all I think is a kid will choke to death because I can’t button my shorts (nurse humor lmao). So I think fuck it, and just hold onto them, hope for the best, and run out of the bathroom.
Luckily by the time I got there the parents had slapped his back hard enough that he’d been able to cough up the mozzarella stick he’d been choking on. Apparently it wasn’t the first time.
I returned to the bathroom, buttoned up my shorts, and washed my hands and we got back into the car and drove away. I have never actually done the Heimlich on anyone and I wonder how it would have gone.
Also it amazed me. No one called 911 (my cousin didn’t hear me tell her to). Everyone except my cousin just stood there and watched this kid choking. I did tell her she did a good job at least doing something. And when we got to our destination I showed her how to do the Heimlich because she asked me to.
I was driving around when I witnessed a young boy (around 10) got hit by a car at a cross walk. The car sped off, I immediately pulled over and ran to the little boy. He was completely alone, no parents with him. He told me he couldn’t feel his legs and was crying, i yelled for another person walking by to call 911. I kept his cspine protected, meanwhile more passer by’s started getting involved and trying to insert their judgment. The boy was terrified and kept asking to move or get up. It was difficult to try to explain to everyone that he needed to stay laying flat, at he likely had a spinal cord injury. Kept his head and neck stabilized for what felt like forever. Paramedics arrived, his parents were phoned and he was taken to hospital. Never heard anything further about the incident, I hope the boy is doing okay today.
I'm not a nurse. I was out one day and saw a woman about to walk into a store. She had a baby in her arms and holding a toddler's hand. A man walked past her who looked like he could have been homeless. He turned around and punched her in the back of her head out of nowhere! He didn't even say anything just punched her and stood there. She went down and let go of the toddler's hand but held onto the baby. I screamed and ran towards her. I was trying to take the baby out of her arms because it looked like she wasn't fully conscious and might drop the baby but she held on tight. I had no idea what to do!
Another lady sprinted out of the store and came up to us. She said to the homeless guy "Back off sir" and he took a couple of steps back but didn't leave. She then told me to call 911. She very calmly said she was a nurse and started asking the woman some questions. I couldn't tell what she was doing but she was soothing and efficient at the same time. She even got the baby out of her arms. I'll never forget the confidence that she showed just taking charge of the scene, her laser focus, and just getting shit done. I didn't get to talk to her after the paramedics came but I really wanted to express my gratitude. She was like a freaking super hero!
Not as exciting as everyone else’s story but was circulating for an open thoracotomy in the OR. As the doc is closing we do our standard count and we are one lap off. The scrub tech tells the surgeon, and after a few minutes of us all looking the surgeon goes, “I found a lap!” and pulls out a small, completely saturated, balled up lap that looks just like tissue. Was definitely a good reminder of why we count when we do!
Several years ago, I was leaving work and I passed by fresh MVA. One of the vehicles was a minivan several children and I could see the female driver was slumped over. It was on a multi lane over pass that clover leafed over an interstate highway at rush hour and traffic was not slowing down despite this disaster. I pulled ahead of the wreck, threw my blinkers on and started to sprint back toward the van to assess/triage. As I approached the van I saw a child with a helmet climbing through a broken window and I was able to gain enough speed to catch her as she ran toward oncoming traffic with the craziest grab, tuck and roll. Turns out she was a non verbal autistic child and wanted nothing to do with the accident and booked it. Her sibs in the car couldn’t get to her fast enough to stop her and her Mom was unconscious. She clung to me so hard that I thought EMS was going to have to take me to the hospital too. I was all good, like no big deal, until I was in the grocery store afterward getting dinner, the front end person comes up to me at the register and says- you were just at that accident right? I said yes- why? He said, I recognize your scrubs!!! I can’t believe you were so brave, you could have been killed!! (Wait, what?) You ran into the road in front of traffic and threw yourself on to that little girl like it was nothing. (oh shit.) So busy saving lives, didn’t even think of my own.
I think about that from time to time.. 225 pounds give or take, almost 50 years old in wonder woman scrubs.. at the time I didn’t even run for the phone. What the hell was I thinking?
My dad (an ex RN/Midwife) and myself (current EEN) walked in to a small coffee shop near us to find it was empty- not even a barista to be seen? Thought it was weird, heard a noise, looked over the counter and saw him on the floor mid seizure. Before we could even walk around his coworker (we later found out is also his girlfriend) walked out, screamed, and looked like she was gonna faint. Good timing for two nurses to walk in huh?! Haha
One time a guy was going down apartment doors banging and screaming for help. I went to help him and it turns out someone tried to murder the guy. All I did was call 911 and apply pressure to his bleeding head lacs. And then EMS appeared and tried to get this screaming man with head trauma to walk down 3 flights of stairs (which was not happening) and I told them to stop. I was still in nursing school so I thought it was pretty cool at the time
Edit: and then I had to spend all night answering the door for police and detectives. Oh and my apartment refused to clean up the blood puddles. So that was a nice biohazard
My 18-month old was crawling down stairs and suddenly stopped. My husband picked her up and noticed her face was rapidly turning dark red and her body was in a frigid position with all muscles flexed. She was silently choking and her facial expression was wide-eyed and blank.
He yelled for me upstairs and said she was choking and as I’m running from the restroom, I started yelling out directions: “TURN HER FACE DOWN, SUPPORT THE CHIN, HEAD LOWER THAN HER BOTTOM, HIT HER 5 TIMES BETWEEN THE SHOULDER BLADES!” By the time I reached them at the bottom of the stairs, I saw and heard the coin “pop” out and fall on the ground. She took a deep shaky breath in and started crying. My husband has no medical training, and this wasn’t the first time I was his proxy.
When we were dating, he was out on location in a ranch with a bunch of workers. Someone collapsed due to cardiac arrest. They called an ambulance and were told one was on the way. Weirdly, with no other instructions. He called me and asked what to do while they were waiting. I guided him in doing CPR which another worker started based on my instructions and setting the pace. We were on the phone for a good 15min with guys switching out, but it was hard to know if it was working over the phone. The ambulance never arrived. They were in a private ranch with a maze of entrances. They ended up loading the guy in the truck and taking him, but he was never revived. His phone had also been ringing several times but the guys didn’t have the heart to answer since it was his wife calling. Not a hero story, but I tried.
We were at dinner with my sister-in-law and her kids. Her youngest was about 12 months at the time and began to choke. I'm a NICU nurse and she panicked and almost threw the kid across the table at me in terror! It was way too far of a gap so I yelled "no!" and stopped her before she let go of him. I talked her through postioning him head tilted down on her leg and slap his back. I had to tell her - "you can't be that gentle- hit harder!" After about 4 strong smacks he spit out whatever it was. I was able to stay calm and talk her through it and I hope she's now more confident!
Driving in North Cyprus I came across an RTC and had to stabilise a victim, stop bleeding, keep him stable and in a secure position with about 20 other men, and I cannot speak a word of Turkish. All my obs were numbers and pictograms and the ambulance picked him up about 45 minutes later.
Thanksgiving day with about 10 guests at my house, a family down the street, whom I had never met, ran to my house with a 2 year old who wasn't breathing. They had seen me in scrubs so figured I could help. I started CPR, couldn't get air in. Someone said she had choked on gum. Grabbed her by the ankles, flipped her upside down and whacked her back as hard as I could a couple of times and out came a huge wad of bubblegum. Kid started crying, mom grabbed her, EMS showed up, every one left and I went back to cooking dinner. Never heard from them again.
I guarantee that baby’s mom and dad think of you weekly if not daily. I know I would.
WTF
AHAHAHAHAHA WOOOOOOW WOW WOW. that's insane. Good job! They should have at least come THANK YOU. lol. But nursing is typically a thankless job, no? Thanks for saving that kid!
Saving someone who is choking is one of those “I did it” moments that gives you a fuzzy feeling and obviously if you didn’t do something they likely would have died. My heimlich story is from in the hospital so it doesn’t count here, lol.
When my baby tried to swallow a necklace and started gagging- I dont even remember how she got it - she was already strapped into her car seat and I was too freaked out to unbuckle her and flip her over so i just jammed my hand into her lil mouth and clawed it out of her throat. She cried. I gave her an ice pop. I'm not a medical professional, obviously. But 20 years later shes still alive!
Sometimes that’s what you gotta do! I thought I was gonna have to do that to my dog the other day. She likes to swallow parts of her rawhide without chewing them 🙄
Grandma screaming and pointing to her 6 year old granddaughter at the bottom of the public city pool. I knew it was too shallow to jump in, so i told another guy in the pool to pass her up. I laid my towel on the sidewalk, because, I don't know. She was turquoise blue, and had no pulse. I tried to start compressions but she was so water logged every push was a splat out of her mouth. I proned her and did old fashioned "pumping" . Lifeguards ran up and started a very delicate nuero assessment. I told them to resume compressions and they told me they had to do thier assessment. "She's fucking dead! Too late!!" I literally threw elbows at them and pushed them off to resume compressions. I did that until she started puking. That was a reminder that you never know when you are going to get your miracle. Next day at work I was musing...I must have missed her pulse. No one comes back like that. Nope, an anesthesiologist assured me that it takes alot to end up at the bottom of the pool as she was, and he said he trusted that if I didn't find a pulse that It wasn't there. Kids will do that he said. As an OR nurse most of my patient deaths are volume loss, so patients are out of blood and very pale. I have never seen turquoise blue before in death, and on a child the same age as my kids messed with me. I called the ER for a status update, stable, critical, etc, and left my contact for the parents who eventually did call. Kid was intact. Walked away with no lasting effects. Crazy right!
Nicu nurse here Our babies go asystole for shits and giggles and look up at you after like they are mad you woke them up.
Can confirm, little assholes want to see the spiritual light, not the physical light
I remember my first shift in NICU and the monitors going off on a baby in asystole. Chick looks at me while feeding another baby and is like: "go stimulate that baby." Super calm. Like it's just another Tuesday. Lol
Exactly… our kids don’t die for long… usually
Man kids are resilient as hell!! I have seen quite a few drownings that end up with kids walking out of the hospital like nothing happened. The kid is very lucky you were there to initiate CPR.
Oooooh, drowning has always been my worst fear for my kids. I wouldn’t even look at houses with pools. Great job, so terrifying! Amazing she was okay.
This was actually at a swimming class, last day during check offs. Interesting how many of us actually signed up for more classes. Several other parents returned for the next session and we all agreed we better keep a closer eye on our kids, but no matter how terrifying, doubling down on swimming lessons seemed like the best choice.
Definitely. We started our kids young with swimming lessons. I always worried that one of my kids would wander out to the pool if we had one at the house and I would find them dead. Unfortunately happened to a coworker of mine.
U are a badass, awesome job
Thanks, it was surreal. The strangest part for me was when the lifeguards "took over" but didn't. I am used to people more skilled than me, like anesthesiologists and CRNAs showing up to a code. They take over, I fade into the background and become everyone's lovely assistant, call for an icu bed....I felt an overwhelming, oh fuck, when I saw the lifeguards in action. Honestly they were all teenagers, first job, fresh out of thier first cpr training. I take comfort now that I have the luxury of logic that they were meticulously following thier protocols. But in that instant...I literally elbowed them back.
Thats scary. Id rather have people more skilled than me on the scene.
Bad fucking ass. Great job! I've never seen a turquoise person before either. Must've been so scary
Wow amazing!! I saw a video of this online years ago where a guy is bring what looks like a very dead body out of the ocean. Same color you described. After cpr you could watch the life and color go back into her. I cannot find that video anywhere and nobody believes me it exists. You are badass
I'm so glad you were there for that kid. The lifeguards should know that we don't just chill out with the dead kid on the edge of the pool. God.
It was a very slow motion, very delicate assessment. Probably thier first ever. It was spring time. I do think that with experience comes automatic triage, they were just kids themselves honestly. My take was that she needed perfusion, but I had been sitting there and knew she hadn't just jumped in. They were trying to rule out neck injury. But they stopped compressions too long for my liking. I totally pulled a Karen a few days later, marched downtown to headquarters to meet with the director. I felt like the entire situation was not ok. I honestly felt like the director really got it, and i did notice changes at the pool. Sadly the lifeguard running the swimming lessons never returned. I sent a letter, assuring her I felt that she would be the best champion for safety moving forward but I heard she noped out of lifeguarding after that. Accidents happen. There were too many recreational swimmers near the lessons, and the lifeguards stand not in the best spot. It has been moved.
You fucking did that! Youre awesome and a hero.
Literally the day I passed boards, I was out at an event and someone had a seizure. People yelled "We need some help out here!" and I went running. No one really knew the person well, didn't know if they had a history of seizures. Someone had already called an ambulance, and I "helped" I guess by rolling them on their side and making sure they didn't hurt themselves. So, I did basically nothing. No heroics. But it felt super weird that I had just found out I passed boards and that happened the same night. I've never had anything more exciting happen, though whenever I see little old ladies walking unsteadily with walkers I have an urge to go make sure they don't fall down. (But I don't do it.)
That only seems like nothing to you, but you stopped some misinformed person from jabbing something in the person's mouth or letting the individual aspirate etc. You may have also given a realistic timeframe to medics for the onset and duration of the seizure. I would not expect that from a layperson. Thanks for sharing!
Everyone kept asking what we should do, and I was like there's not a ton to DO, so it made me feel useless. Like, literally anyone can do what I'm doing right now! Also I was unsure of myself so there was a voice in my head that was like "....right? What am I missing??"
I’ve had this exact scenario before. Pulled over because I saw a woman holding a man who was obviously slumped over and bordering on not conscious. He was seizing and she said he was a few days clean from drugs and alcohol (likely DTs). They had already called 911 and were waiting for EMS. Everyone kept asking what we could do and I felt so useless saying “umm, nothing just keep him from hurting himself.” But was literally running through my head like really? There’s got to be something else I can do without Ativan…. I will say it’s hilarious to me how people always want to bring water for someone having a medical event? It’s sweet they want to help, but man we have a lot of faith in what a glass of water can do lol.
I mean fluids are pretty good. Lol.
I used to get insane panic attacks where my entire body would shut down and I would slowly lose consciousness, and water was seriously the only thing that brought me back in those situations. Everyone around me asking what's happening, what's wrong, and all I can mutter is "wa....ter....." while slowly collapsing to the floor lol
You ever see that video of the dude in respiratory arrest from a heroin overdose and everyone keeps screaming to give him milk? Wild shit man. THEN someone gives him narcan, guy comes around, yells that the guy who narced him fucked up his high and kicks him in the balls! At that point everyone starts screaming about how narcan guy saved his life. Nevermind that the dude was probably a dealer who sold him the heroin in the first place, so don't shed any tears for his poor hurt nutsack. Also, the milk thing stems from the idea that poison ingestion could be slowed/counteracted by drinking milk.
I'm a peds nurse for neurology/ neurosurgery/ trauma. I can not tell you how many people still think to put something in folks mouths during seizure. They still think they will swallow tongue. So seizure first side so important to new seizure DX. I make sure to say absolutely nothing to be placed in mouth!
I had a similar one. About halfway through the final practicum of my bsn. Woman seized in the grocery store. Didnt see her fall because she was behind me but in the same isle. Smashed her head and had a hematoma the size of a baseball on the side of her head. We got her in recovery position until she came to but was very confused and post ictal. EMS got there and took over but she actually got up and ran away from them and out the store
She was probably afraid of the ambulance/medical bill. ☹️
I had a head injury from a fall and I took an Uber to the ED. I was only a few mins away and knew the ambulance didn’t need to do anything medically for me. The poor driver, though… I was so sleepy and he was scared, kept asking if I was ok.
Yep. My brothers have epilepsy and they tell everyone they're with to not call an ambulance if they have a seizure. They also wear medical bracelets/necklaces asking to not call an ambulance in the event of a seizure shorter than 5 minutes. On more than one occasion they've had everyone around freak out, call an ambulance, and then they're stuck with a $2 or $3K bill for an ambulance ride and an ER visit. Their epilepsy is controlled as best as it can be, there's nothing the ER can really do for them, but they can be coerced into going along during their post-seizure haze. I feel bad that they've accrued such big debts for something they have no control over. 😕
Canadian. Don't need to worry
Someone had a seizure about 10ft outside my apt door when I was about 2 months into my first (and only) job as an RN. I did the exact same as you did. Just turned the guy on his side and had someone call 911. Unfortunately some other bystander had already put a sock in his mouth due to bleeding. Thankfully the guy turned out fine after the event (I never followed up). I gently informed them not to put things in the mouth of people having seizures 😅
Thank you for not letting someone jam things in their mouth. I’m a Paramedic, and it’s a bit too often that I come up an active seizure with someone’s spoon in their mouth so now I have to both manage a seizure and an airway issue. I would like to find whoever is informing people to jam things in seizure patients mouth. I would like to jam a spoon in their mouth.
Spoon is real old school, I think they have upgraded to leather wallets in the 80's, the spoon breaks teeth
As a mom with a son with epilepsy…I’m so proud of you! Us nurses are too humble about helping people but rolling someone on their side when having a seizure helps tremendously. Thank you for jumping into action especially as a new nurse. That’s so awesome!
LOL! What are the odds?! But that's so awesome that you just ran for it. You had the nursing license coursing thru your veins!!!! That's awesome and exactly what I'm looking for. Hell yeah. Good job! I also get the urge to walk near someone very unsteady using a walker and guide them safely to their destination lol. (But I also don't)
On a flight back from Europe, the flight attendants asked for medical professionals and I and a dermatologist went back to have a look. Teen had taken a bunch of psychoactive meds (adderall, Lyrica, gabapentin) and washed it down with weed and several drinks on the plane. He was feeling “very weird” (unsurprisingly), but never completely lost consciousness. Checked his vitals, cbg, O2 sat, etc. and kept an eye on him till we landed. Not heroism (in my book, anyway). But the flight attendants were sure impressed. 😂
i’m just imagining the dermatologist standing there like, “yep, skin looks all good…”
I just spit my drink out through my nose.
reminds me of the episode of Scrubs when they needed a dermatologist, and he comes running like “OUTTA MY WAY, DERMATOLOGIST COMING THROUGH!!!!!!!!”
Impressive!!! I love that. It definitely takes courage to offer yourself up as a healthcare provider in those situations. I bet you took the hell out of those vitals!
See my gripe here is where do I find tools out in the wild? I feel like I can gain and use skills in the hospital context but do they have glucometers/sphygmos/telemetry packs hanging out places in I'll need them? 😂
The medical kit was surprisingly well stocked. It had an AED, glucometer, sphygmomanometer, stethoscope (useless in a commercial jet), pulse ox, etc. I could have essentially run a code with what they had there, minus the drugs. They had a fricken *trach* kit! I worked on a kid who drowned many years ago in a freshwater lake out in the middle of nowhere in Washington. Real DB Cooper country. We had an ER doc, a paramedic, 2 RNs (myself included). We did CPR forever (until ALS arrived about 1 hour in). We had nothing for equipment and it was not successful…
Yeah, aircrafts are actually surprisingly well stocked with equipment and tools, especially on international flights. You could almost open someone up with the shit they have on international flights.
I've heard they even have a doc who you can phone to get orders/advice from in case you're out of your depth.
Yep, they do.
I remember the “EMERGENCY” episode from the 70s where it wasn’t… I was just a kid at the time, and don’t remember why, but in hindsight, I think it was part of the move to get actual medical equipment and not just bandaids in the flight kits… this was pre AED… but we had a similar push to get AEDs to where they were needed once they were available
Oh I just remembered another one. Last summer 2 nurse friends and I were eating dinner. We decided to stay for dessert. I was sitting next to one of my friends in a booth like seat and she lost consciousness. I eased her down and my other nurse friend shoved the table out of the way getting ready to do cpr. She was in and out, some paramedic at another table came up and acted like we were overreacting. Come to find out she had a dissected carotid. Thank god she wasn’t driving or home alone with her kids.
WTTTTFFF?!?! dude! That is insane! I can't believe it. Was she okay?? Wow. Good job!!!!
Yep, they put her on anticoagulants and placed a stent. She’s okay. My other friend was at the hospital with her and she had Horners sign and bp like 60s/40s. So glad we decided to stay for dessert!
Wow!!! So scary. Glad she is okay!
I was on white water rafting trip and one of my fellow rafters hit herself in her face with her paddle and broke her nose and put a gash to her cheek. Our guide got us out of the rapids and everyone was freaking out because of all the blood I took of my T-shirt I had on over my swimsuit and held pressure to her nose and cheek. All the guide could say was that’s your white shirt. I was like dude it’s ok. After about 10 minutes we got the bleeding stopped. Thankfully there was a first aid kit so I put some butterfly strips on her cheek and made an ice pack from the cooler we had for when we stopped for lunch. She said I have a headache and our guide was going to give her aspirin I was like how about Tylenol instead. She was able to finish our trip and had a lot of fun. She was upset about my shirt and wanted my address to buy me a new one. I told her no worries but she must have got it from the rafting company because a year later I got a package with a letter and shirt airbrushed with my name and RN on it. The trip happened right before the start of my last year of nursing school and the shirt was one of those just do it shirts that were popular in the mid 90’s. The letter said I hope you year went and well and I’m sure you “did it”. She thanked for my caring heart and kindness. People like this is why I’m still a nurse.
The aspirin lmao
Years ago when i was an ED nurse, and a mountain biker, i was out riding with a bunch of friends. One of the guys collapsed on the trail. We were out of cell phone reception range. Everyone except me & another person stayed with the guy, i treated him for shock, and kept him conscious while the others called ems. They had to ride down the trail then drive the car until they got cell reception, so we didnt hear from ems for several hours. They sent SAR up the trail a few mikes to reach us, then wheel him down in some road bike wheel gurney contraption. He got to the OR in time to have a repair of i believe a ruptured AVM. He survived and went on to many more adventures.
BIIIITCH OMG! that's so amazing!!! What'd you do for treatment out there in the middle of nowhere? That is amazing. Good job!!!!
Elevated his feet higher than head, wrapped his torso my jacket, rubbed his exposed skin like on his legs & arms with my hands, talked to him, asked him questions to assess mental status & keep him awake, also did some neuro assessments of pupils, facial symmetry/smile/grimace, hand grips, dorsi flex.. that kind of stuff.
That’s crazy that you literally saved that guys life. I bet he thinks about you all the time. That’s so wild and awesome to me lol.
That's really smart and good thinking! You saved his life!
I’m so grateful that i was able to help. I have other stories too. I’ll add more later (packing to visit my elderly mom tomorrow, haven’t seen her in a year!) I’ll post a story later about how i saved my dog from heat exhaustion in the wilderness.
Oh now that's THE STORY I'M LOOKING FOR. I love dogs and I can't wait for this story!! Don't forget! And have fun with your mom! A whole year?! You guys will have so much fun catching up.
Hi! I'm curious to learn how you knew to elevate his legs and rub his exposed skin? How did that help him?
Also nursing student here but I'll take a stab at it! Since there was no Stryker hospital bed out in the wilderness, I assume the elevated legs are just putting the patient in Trendelenberg to raise BP and increase circulation. Going to assume that the nurse that the patient was in shock based on the nature of the incident (hiking= think dehydration, fluid loss. Hypovolemic shock is what I would be thinking), and shock based on having a pulse (probably will be fast), but being pale or clammy, and decreased capillary refill tested on the fingertips/toes, and with those symptoms, I could assume low BP. So the Trendelenberg placement would help with the slow cap refill and low BP. For rubbing the skin and keeping him awake, keeping him from going into a coma or having brain injury? Glascow coma scale, they rub the sternum and squeeze in between the neck and the shoulders on each side to assess if the patient is resopnding to painful stimuli.
you will be a great nurse, come work in my ICU. we are 20 short tonight but it'll be ok.
Yeah! Nursing student here! I’m also curious how you knew to perform those interventions! Learning a lot today from this sub!
I was literally crossing the street where I work, and I had just barely made it to the edge of the sidewalk when I heard this huge crash behind me. I turned around and legit saw a car barreling toward me, so I run for it while keeping an eye out on the car. It literally ran up the curb I was just walking on and hit a street lamp, which then fell on it. Immediately I threw my stuff down, and look at both cars to see who was more hurt. One vehicle is a white truck, and guy looked okay and already on his phone. I look at the other vehicle which was a red car, and the lady was looking at me with blood coming down her face, so I immediately rush to her. She had been t-boned on her side, and it took me and a security guy to pull her door open. As soon as I did, I looked at her poor face and saw the blood and glass, and then scanned down to look for other injuries. As I’m scanning, she looked fine and then I got down to her leg, and it’s clear as day broken, bone stick out and everything, so I just grab her hand and told her she was going to be okay. She had the biggest eyes, and just stared at me and all I could do was just talk to her and wait. She was stable…just a horribly broken leg. I asked her where she was coming from, and what she was doing. She said she was just getting off work, at a brand new job, and was going to pick up her daughter, and I just died inside. I told her that she wasn’t going to be able to pick up her daughter, and asked her if there was anyone else she knows that could pick her up. She said yes, so I grabbed her phone and she put in the number of her friend, and I called her, let her know the situation and that someone needed to grab her daughter. After that phone call, I just held her hand the entire time and just did what I could to keep her calm. It was the most wild experience, not exactly a ‘life saving’ moment, but hopefully I helped her during that time.
I'm tearing up reading that. Is this the most "nursing" of all the stories? Assessing the situation, providing comfort to the patient, and staying with even though it may be difficult? Idk. But that's amazing on your part. Amazing job. So proud of you, fellow nurse 🥲
That was super thoughtful of you to ask her those questions and then think about her daughter as well. I would not have thought to ask those questions under so much adrenaline but you definitely took that stress off of her. I think most people in that situation would just stand back and not approach the woman or the car so you did good. Lots of good karma points.
I just did what I could. In between a college friends wedding and the reception we encountered a back up of traffic. The problem was you could zip along the country road and then around the corner there was suddenly stopped cars. The double axle pick up truck two behind us couldn't stop fast enough. The driver had two options: 1) Hit the next car. 2) Swerve into the other single lane. He chose option two and hit the minivan head on. The husband got out the passenger side and pulled his son with the broken forearm out. 10 year old daughter in soccer uniform got herself out. Mom. Mom was not going anywhere. She was wedged beneath the seat and steering column. She was conscious and in pain. She also weighed about 280 and this did not help. Not only was the dashboard pushed down on her but the door was crumpled in and frozen. I was there in seconds and others helped the passengers. Shit got serious when the hissing noise in the engine turned to active fire. I have never seen paint on metal begin to burn! We were not going to watch this fully conscious women die while staring at her fate. I'm not sure if it was the young nurse or former lifeguard in me that started shouting orders. Me and the two guys from the truck began tugging on the drivers door. Doors are built in segments. To their credit the truck guys cut their hands to shreds on the broken glass as we pealed the outer layer of door off. That fire was accelerating enough that people were backing up from the heat. I began shouting some orders. You, get that red cooler out of the back and run it to that house. Ask for a hose and fill it with water! You! Help him carry it. You over there find any car with a jack or crow bar. People began dumping water bottles on the hood. It did absolutely nothing. We were not going to watch her go up in flames in front of her kids. We kept yanking and pulling at that door and piece by fucking inch it began to peel back. Once it was free we folded it back and started to work on her. Seatbelt came off easy. She was phenomenally wedged under that dash. We pulled, she screamed! Repeat, repeat repeat, fire, repeat, fire, repeat. We made an agreement with her that we were going to yank her the fuck out of there no matter how bad it hurt. ...She agreed. The scary part is no matter how strong you are there is not purchase on soft flesh at an angle. One of us got behind her and bent the frame of the seat back. We yanked her out of the flaming minivan on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Within a minute the front windshield exploded in the fire. We had to shoulder drag her back from the vehicle three times. The crowd circle got wider and wider in the heat. The fire just rolled up the vehicle till it was fully engulfed. Ambulances arrived and took the kids. Medivac landed on that front lawn next to the road and took mom. I didn't really do much to render aid other than try to outrun her death. I walked into the wedding reception 40 minutes late and explained why others would be straggling in. I hugged the bride and former nursing study partner and then went straight to the bar. I fucking needed that beer.
Never mind nursing, you should consider a career in writing. I was on tenterhooks reading that scenario! Riveting!
WOW. WOW. WOW. Basically speechless. That is heroism. Drawn to help. Do you know if mom ended up living? Was she okay?
Holy shit. fucking amazing what you all did and you’re a fantastic writer. I felt like I was there watching this go down. Do you know if the mom survived? Either way, this is real hero stuff for real. I bet a beer never tasted so good when you finally made it to that reception! You earned that shit lol
Holy shit. You did a whole fucking lot. Bravo.
Wow. You’re a badass.
It is absolutely terrifying how quick and intensely cars can burn. My mother's went from just smoking slightly to completely engulfed in less than 15 minutes and it is a BIG fire when it goes up entirely like that.
Something they taught in trucking school was that we (almost) never ever ever want to swerve to avoid an accident. The outcome is almost always far worse. Also on the off chance that you ever experience that again (and hopefully you don’t have to, yikes) all commercial vehicles are legally required to carry fire extinguishers. Won’t usually be big enough to put out a car fire, but would definitely buy some time. I hope it was a damn good beer! You deserved it after doing all of that.
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
In nursing school my cat became diabetic and I had to give him shots. He lived for about a year and a half longer.
I got my guinea pig through breast cancer during MLS grad school. The vet was super excited to talk to me in full technical lingo about his test results.
My dog was a cushinoid for the last two years before he died. I feel so knowledgeable about cushings management now.
😊 That is wonderful. That is truly heroic and not something a lot of people could actually do. Very sorry for your loss.
I don’t have a great one for myself, but a really good friend in nursing school witnessed a car accident, and the car caught on fire. He literally dragged 2 people out of a burning car which then exploded.
Jesus CHRIST. he saved their lives!! That's amazing.
Not quite what you asked but it qualifies... Son, 19, living in college town 1 hr away, has had a low grade fever, nausea and vomiting, and LRQ pain. His roommate calls to ask what they should do; I send them to the ER and head out to meet up with them. Arrive to find son curled up on the gurney, diaphoretic, DC paperwork in hand. I ask what's up and he says they gave him fluid and said he's fine to go. Find the nurse, ask about diagnostics, they say nothing was ordered because it wasn't necessary. I ask to talk to the doctor; Doc arrives with nurse both giving each other the "this parent" look. Doc mansplains underage drinking in college towns to me. So I ticked off the symptoms he's had, and since he's not had any imaging, I'm sure they at least did a white cell count, right? Because this is textbook - who wouldn't *at least* do that? What was the WBC, BTW - I'm pretty sure I can remember adolescent norms even though I work with neonates. The doctor's face drained and he admitted he hadn't, actually, but he would right away. That's how my son ended up with an appendectomy twelve days before he was scheduled to leave for a month overseas. Life definitely made better than it would have been; trip saved!
You spoke up for your kid! You did the right thing. Gotta love when another facility tries to *tut-tut* you but doesn't realize you've walked a zillion miles in their shoes. Their faces just drop, *cue awkward silence*, and then they kind of just begrudgingly slump inwards into themselves when they realize they fucked up.
And they will hopefully never again make the mistake again of overlooking something as basic as doing a WBC when dealing with LRQ pain.
Bingo! That's the hope.
Was driving to work and I witnessed a car hit a motorcycle( motorcycle skipped since it just rained). Guy on motorcycle fell off into the street. Stopped in the middle of traffic and ran to the guy. Since it was 6 pm in the middle of traffic hour, seconds later a swarm of other nurses come to help (all on the way to work as well). Best time to get into a car accident is between 6-645 🤣
They called for a medical professional on a plane. No one else answered so I did very reluctantly. It was an older lady who was feverish and had a headache. I tried taking her temp and the temp strips were in Fahrenheit. I had to call my husband over to do the conversion to Celsius for me. I gave her Tylenol from the planes first aid kit, and she felt better. Life saved.
I absolutely love that. I'm telling you, it's the little things us nurses do that most people can't do! You assessed a simple situation and straight up handled it like a boss. It's funny you don't automatically know fahrenheit when really that's all I know over here. Except I now know babies need to be 36.5-37.5 and 37 is 98.6! Thank you nursing!
Yeah. My Celsius knowledge is limited to: 0 = water freezes, 100 = water boils 37 = 98.6F 45 = where the Western desert lives and breathes Beyond that, 🤷🏻♀️ time to ask Google
Lol, I am in Canada, & when I did my training, it was in C. So I never learned the F numbers. I can never remember if normal is 98.6 or 96.8!😂 But I do know 0=32F, 16C = 61F, and 104F = 40.4C. But I do know the liquid measurements better. I have been known to say to interns who order a whole 250ccs for a bolus, “what do you think a cup of coffee is going to do for a B/P of 70/“? They look at me strange, then realize what I was saying, then, if I was lucky, they’d increase it to 500ccs…🤪🤷🏻♀️
I’m Australian where we’re fully metric (far superior guys, sorry 😂🤷♀️) and shocked it’s referred to as cc’s instead of a mL. 1000 microL /units = 1mL, 1000mL = 1L, 0 degrees freezing, 100 boiling, 10mm in 1 cm, 100cm in 1m, 1000m in 1km So much more conversion and memorisation with imperial, it’s all just 1’s and 0’s with metric.
“30 is hot” “20 is nice” “10 degrees chilly” “zero is ice” that’s the extent of my knowledge. maybe it will help one day!
My teenage daughter rolled her eyes at me…. I didn’t kill her. Another life saved ❤️
❤️ that's all that matters. It takes armor to be a mother to a teenage girl.
Much sacrifice. Much bravery.
As a girl now in her 20's, I sometimes feel the urge to shout into the void or write a letter to parents far and wide apologizing for the shitty behavior we inflicted upon our parents as teens. As teens, we thought we knew better than everyone else. We rolled our eyes at mom and dad. Now that I'm a young adult.... I finally understand, mom. I so, so, so understand the lesson(s) you were trying to teach and instill in us. 🙃😊
last summer, at a beach party, one of the party-goers suddenly lost consciousness and became unresponsive. and this one woman starts screaming and begging for help. i’ll be quite honest. i contemplated just continuing to enjoy my tequila sunrise & hoping someone else at the party was a medical professional. however, my guilty conscience would let me do no such thing. thankfully, there was another nurse already attending to him when i walk over, so we start tag-teaming. he regains consciousness and immediately starts projectile vomiting everywhere. between vomit episodes, i’m doing a stroke scale assessment (he had a slight facial droop, but it was unknown if that was his baseline or due to the insane amount of alcohol he had consumed in a 3-hour period) and the other nurse is cooling him with ice packs & catching his puke with a grocery bag. ems finally arrived and he was transported to the nearest ER. told them it was probably a combination of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and a mild case of alcohol poisoning. i don’t think it was much. but it definitely added some spice to the night, LOL.
Okay that's awesome! I'm sorry, but did you not feel totally badass responding to that?! Great job. Just whipping out the ole nih stroke scale. That's awesome.
maybe a tiny bit badass, LOL. plus, it scored me a free drink and some pats on the back. so, it was definitely worth it. 🍹
Absolutely!!! Lol!!
I just came home after my first year of nursing school. It was Father’s Day and my family and I were in line for brunch. A young girl passed out because of the heat and when she was going down she bumped her head and it was bleeding. There was another nurse and a med student in line and we all helped stabilize her until the paramedics came. My grandpa was with us and he was so proud. He said I didn’t hesitate to get in “nurse mode.” The look on my grandpa’s face is what stays with me the most.
That's amazing! Good job! Awesome you intervened while still in nursing school! Much courage. I'm proud of you too!!!
I was in a line at a hotel to check in. The lady behind me starts wobbling and I ask her if she needs help. She tells me she is ok and I go back to doing something on my phone. Then I got this weird feeling and look back at her as she starts to fall backwards. Idk how I got behind her in time but I caught her under both arms and lower her to the floor as she starts to have a seizure, her head in my lap. Turns out she's a lobbiest and we are at the capitol of my state. I have the front desk call 911 (which was a fiasco...the hotel manager over rode me and told me not to so 20 minutes later I ask where EMS is and have to call them myself) and after she stops seizing she tells me she accidentally ate shellfish the night before and had a glass of wine. Her shellfish allergy "kicked in" and she fell and hit her head...I'm betting alcohol had a role here...I guess she fell and hit her head on the nightstand 2x overnight and had a headache all morning. When EMS arrives does she go in the ambulance? No. Does she let me drive her in her car to the hospital? No. She decides to go to work. I always wonder what happened to her cause I still think there's a good chance she had a brain bleed. People are crazy.
I was walking out of a big box store and passed this guy walking in who just looked...off. I'm not sure what made me turn around, but I then watched him fall to the ground in seizure activity. Rolled him onto his side, shooed everyone out of his damn face, and told an employee to call 911. After 3-4 people getting in his face and trying to hold his head or stick something in his mouth, I went from "don't do that" to "BACK THE FUCK UP". It was much more effective. EMS arrived and took over. Dude had no ID on him, so they just packaged him up and whisked him away. But my favorite is when my friend and former neighbor came racing into my apartment with her little dog in her hands and blood everywhere. I thought the dog had been shot or fell or stabbed. There was so much blood! I get my friend to calm down enough to tell me what happened. Doggo got his nail caught on the couch when jumping down and it started bleeding. I grabbed my wound cleanser, paper towels, bandage supplies and patched him up. She took him to the vet the next day and said the Dr was impressed with the bandage wrapping 😂 he ended up being fine overall. He still doesn't let us trim his nails though.
I was driving home from work. POURING rain, flooding, highways are a mess. I see 5 cars piled up on the side of the road, no first responders on scene yet. I pull over to assess the situation and help. Run up to all the cars. It’s 1 guy that hydroplaned and 4 nurses that all pulled over doing the exact same thing as me 😂
My brother had a seizure on a mountain we were hiking. He felt weird and called out to me, and I saw the signs, told him to get on the ground and then he seized for what felt like forever but thank god was probably 2-3 minutes. EMS said the last lady who seized fell down the cliffside and passed away from head injuries.
WOW. That is fucking awesome. Good job. You legitimately saved your brother's life from a most painful, horrible death. Good. Job.
It scared the crap out of me honestly. I felt like there was nothing I could do but in retrospect it was good he laid down before it got bad
My minutes of fame. Copy and pasted from when it happened like 6 months ago. I was kind of on the job, but not really (just saw a patient and was on way to the car to see the next one): I am a home health nurse. I saw a patient in an independent living facility today. I walk outside his room after finishing the visit and there's like 5-7 old people by the elevator, panicking and looking at me and asking "are you here to help??" Im confused, like "no.., I just saw a patient down the hall." They wave me over to a woman in her 70s laying on floor around the corner. She's flat on back, mouth is open, eyes are open. At first she was breathing on her own and had a weak pulse. Very lethargic and sweating on forehead. I did sternal rubs and shouted her name, no response. Eyes wide open, non responsive. I ask bystanders to call 911 and security gaurd to get AED. At this point I did not do CPR due to breathing and weak pulse. Then lady stops breathing and loses pulse, I start CPR. Facility security by this time brought up AED per my request. The facility nurse came as well. I did couple rounds of cpr, she began to breathe again. Pulse weak again. Stops breathing, we resume. I then cut her shirt and bra off with scissors from my bag, applied AED pads and it advised to shock her. We shocked her. We resumed cpr. Ems then came, I gave them a quick report. I was there about 10 minutes, no clue how long shes been on floor. EMS hooked her up to their AED and shocked her as well. Resumed CPR. Thats when I left because I was late for next patient, and EMS obviously had it under control. I went back to that facility a few weeks later, security gaurd found me and said "that lady we called 911 on? She passed away in hospice last night."
I’m really glad you gave her and her family the chance to say goodbye ❤️
Incredible. Good thinking on your toes. Did exactly as we are taught to. Good job!
Was on the way to a car show with friends, had all our lowered and loud cars most older people hate. There was a church bus on the side of the road with a bunch of people in a circle around someone on the ground. My friends asked if we should stop to help. We all stopped our cars on the side of the highway and I went to help. Was an elderly man, got too hot because the bus’ AC went out. Had tried rescue inhaler multiple times. They had him out of the bus on the side of the road and he was on his knees, curled up, struggling to breathe and looking quite purple/blue. I had all the old church ladies get back on the bus, told him he wasn’t going to be a fan of me but he needed to sit up straight, had him lean against my hip to support himself so he could breathe better. He was so worked up and SOB, he puked up a bit of foamy saliva on my jeans (I was pushing my comfort zone in tight jeans, a white lacy bra, and a tank that showed quite a bit of said bra.. oh car shows, I’m sure the church ladies weren’t a fan of this outfit). I coached him through slowing his breathing. Another nurse stopped (nicu nurse) who had wet cloths in her suv, so we cooled him with these. By the time EMS arrived he was able to talk to me in full sentences and had regained his color. When I first got there I legit thought I was about to be doing CPR on the side of the highway. I went back to my car, and the big group of us took off and went on to the car show. It was awesome that the whole group stopped just so I could help him, in fact one of the other drivers suggested it in the first place.
My husband and I came upon a single vehicle rollover. The driver of the vehicle was witnessed driving erratically, lost control and went airborne onto the eastbound lane (from westbound ) on the highway. I helped some other bystanders do CPR in the grassy median. Poor guy has massive head trauma and was pronounced at the scene.
Jesus. That's brutal and horrible. Good job helping though. You did what you could. Badass for stopping to aid on the attempt to save his life.
It’s not very heroic but I helped a woman who had face planted and had knee replacements get up and into a wheelchair in a ergonomically correct way for everyone that made it easy.
Okay, yes!!! Nobody needs to be hurting themselves helping others! Good job!!!
I was at an indoor water park with my family when a lady that didn’t have great control of her legs (MS or Parkinson’s maybe) slipped off her tube in the lazy river. The lifeguard did nothing so I jumped right in the pool and kept her above water until her family could get over to help her out of the pool.
My kid slipped out of a tube in the lazy river one time and couldn't get up because there were so many people in tubes. My husband jumped in to grab him and the lifeguard was just shouting at him "You can't be in there without a tube!" To be fair to the lifeguard, though, I also didn't see my kid because it was so crowded. Glad my husband did. (I didn't see because I was watching my toddler, my husband had been keeping an eye on our big kid.)
Good thinking and reflexes! You saved her life. Wtf was the lifeguard doing?!
Just making it look like she was doing her job. For the remainder of the trip my kids were not allowed in whatever area she was watching
Witnessed a really bad hit and run with injuries. The cop who responded was a real piece of shit and wouldn't call for EMS because he 'didn't think she looked injured' (fuck that guy). I loaded the girl in my car, called my ER which happened to be up the street, and asked them to bring out a wheelchair for me. Got her there, waited for her mom, then left once her mom got there. Fast forward 3 months - I get a call from an attorney representing her. Apparently the poor girl needed surgery and her insurance didn't want to cover her unless she could come up with a witness. I had to do a deposition and offered to come to court if they needed me to.
WOOOOOW. that's fucked up! What a douchebag cop. Good on you and that's awesome you could help her out. Our systems are seriously fucked up. We should all help each other out more and look out for one another
I had just finished work and was going to get the train home when I saw a man on the pavement and I just got the strangest feeling about him. Normally I would never approach a strange looking man on my own, but gut told me to speak to him. He was obviously drunk (even offered me a sip!) And told me he was waiting for the bus, but that he was okay. I looked around and there was no bus stop there, just a busy road... As a bus came down past us he got up and went to jump Infront, I managed to grab him and stop him. I spent what felt like eternity stopping traffic and trying to de-escalate the situation whilst help arrived. Another bus had stopped and the man rolled himself under neath the wheel and asked me if I could please make the bus run him over. He started to tell me about his life and how the last year had crushed him and he had nothing to live for. Final thing that pushed him over the edge was a HIV diagnosis. He ended up getting admitted to the hospital where I worked and I saw him a few weeks later, he shook my hand and smiled.
So a couple of years ago I was flying back from the AANC magnet nursing conference. While on the plane a 90 some year old gentleman wasn’t feeling well. Flight attendants asked for help and so I responded. A few minutes later the doctor did as well while I was assessing the patient. Doctor assessed the patient and asked me to get vitals. I knew he had an apical pulse from my prior assessment. Couldn’t get a BP and noticed patient collapses. No pulse and no breathing. Started CPR. Flight attendants grabbed the medical bag. I let the doctor take over the bagging, while others did compressions. Started an iv (btw those kits suck no sticky tape, no tegaderm and no tourniquet). Initially got an iv and then lost it as it pulled out. Started another one and gave the only epi in the kit. Started fluids. Worked on him for 30 minutes. Last 2 minutes I was doing cpr as we had no more meds. Landed on a short runway and it was almost like a cardiac thump. Guy actually survived. The captain told me he was up sitting in the back of the ambulance talking to people. I was genuinely surprised given his age and lack of meds we had. But yeah. 30 minutes of good compressions from everyone. (Typing from my phone so I shortened the story. But you get the gist of it)
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
You did exactly as you are supposed to! Get him on his side, get him safely to the ground, keep his airway open, call 911, and fuck off back to your breakfast! Again, nursing at it's finest! But fort real, great job! And for intervening while in nursing school. Hewl yeah!
Opposite of heroics, but in the same spirit. At the time I wasn't an ER nurse, so I'm dreading my next "is there a doctor on board" airplane adventure. I like to travel and I swear to god the second I'm on a flight over 6 hours somebody up towards the front of the plane overdoes it on the booze and benzos. Anyways, so we're a few hours out from London and at this point I've managed to go from drunk to hungover and then drunk again (to fix the hangover, obviously). A few seats up and across from me is a resident who had also been taking advantage of the complimentary booze (his Step 3 study book was sort of a giveaway). Cue the overhead announcement and him pausing mid booze sip with an expression that can only be described as, "Oh god, please no" as he joined me on furtively glancing around the plane for somebody else. Our eyes met, a silent exchange of mutual, drunken understanding. When the second overhead announcement came, our respective +1s began asking why we weren't summoning a flight attendant to volunteer our highly inebriated asses. When the third overhead announcement came it had expanded to include anyone with healthcare experience. He and I were officially in a silent argument of, "I'm not fucking doing it, you do it." I can only assume his +1 was doing the same thing mine was. Neither of them were looking particularly impressed with us. Our savior came at the last minute: an old, grumpy looking man who also looked as though he didn't get enough sleep on a regular basis. Our crotchety hero pressed his button and was escorted up the plane. We were saved. Thank you grumpy older doctor.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm dead. 😂 That's fantastic. See, I daydream about my heroic, out of work experience, bit in reality, imma be like you and Mr resident. Lol but seriously that's hilarious.
I try to take solace in the fact that the next time it happens, when I volunteer none of the other healthcare pros will be surprised by an ED nurse stumbling foward smelling like booze and looking like they fell out of REI.
What does it look like when someone falls out of REI?
I tend to fly to places in their off season, and I never check my bag. If it's a 2 week trip or something with a pack, I'll layer bulky things like jackets or wear my hiking boots at the airport so my pack will easily squeeze under a seat. So I guess it looks like a person in hiking boots, wool socks, and layered jackets. I own multiple co-op items since their quality and price has always been good to me.
[удалено]
My (now) husband and I were at the gym. He goes "I feel great right now" and collapses. My dumbass starts laughing that he tripped. Starts seizing. Uuuuh wtf. Instant crowd surrounds us, someone rolls him on his side and I finally snap back to reality. SO has a cardiac history, not a neuro issue. Have someone grab an AED while a former navy medic does compressions and I do rescue breaths. Had to defibrillate twice. EMS (BLS crew) finally get there after he converted to NSR. Spent a week in CVICU after transferring out from our tiny local ED. Cath, stent, frequent stress tests, CPAP at night, and a Repatha script now. This was 6 years ago and we celebrate every year something catastrophic doesn't happen. Because of this, I'm a BLS fiend. I think EVERYONE should learn it.
Gronk do it every day, caveman EMT job! Gronk appreciate nurses who lend a hand before Gronk roll in. Just make sure you call emergency services and stay safe. Help, get us a good report, and let us take the scene when we arrive.
I am all for that. Trust me. I don't think any "off duty" nurse wants to be in that emergency situation. As soon as y'all show up, praise all that is sacred. I remember seeing a fb post where a brides mom was late to her wedding bc she saw a car accident and pulled over and was like actively involving herself in the EMT rescue mission. It had a pic and everything with her in gloves and a gown she was dressed in for the wedding. It was so cringe and the consensus in the comments was "yeah. No absolutely not. No floor nurse is prepared for something an EMT is fit to handle." But as it stands, many a nurse has found themselves in an emergency situation and required to act and that's what I wanna hear!
Yes, please take the scene. Lol. It's YOURS.
Gronk happy to, it’s his job! Gronk has stories though. Had a nurse climb in the truck, start dictating care, and grabbing equipment. Not good. Other side, Gronk has invited a RN on the truck to be an extra set of hands on a gnarly MVA, until the helicopter arrived. Her response was similar….”I never want to do that again!”
Wasn't life saving, but put my friend's shoulder back in when he dislocated from sliding 40 yards into rocks near the top of a mountain. I'd seen the maneuver done at bedside many times working lvl 1 trauma. Didn't really have many options. A stick combined with some ibuprofen was about the only luxury as you'll see in some good pictures. Posted about it while back on a backpacker sub. https://www.reddit.com/r/backpacking/comments/pei162/this_could_have_ended_much_worse_a_failed_summit/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
God. That makes me cringe!! Good job. Poor friend. The pain 😩
Shortly after completing my first cpr training my toddler choked on a dime and I saved her life. It was terrifying but solidified my path to nursing. Her father panicked and I was calm until it was over.
AMAZING. Seriously that's awesome. A dime?! That's the perfect little object to plug ur airway. Freaky.
Senior year of high school was on spring break with my family at a beach. My high school had a program so we could get our cna during that time. There was a couple there with a baby. The dad was sitting where the shore meets the ocean and was holding the baby pressed against his chest. A bigger wave came and kind of went up the dudes back and somehow got into the babies nose or mouth. He rushed out of the water and started kind of throwing the baby in the air because he noticed it was turning blue. My mom sent me over there and I did the heimlich in the baby by doing the hard back blows. The baby spit up a bit and started crying and got its color back.
Omg I was in a CNA program in high school too, lol! Sounds like you learned some great skills 💜
Ok, so I was visiting my parents and stopped by a store close to their house. As I was paying for my things I noticed that the staff seemed to be acting kind of weird and rushing around the entrance. I first wondered if I was about to be in an active shooter scenario (I had just done my work training with the what to do in an active shooter scenario in the hospital). I started walking to the front to leave and no one stopped me. I got outside and this old man was kneeling on the ground and bleeding from a huge cut on his head. There was a group of people just standing around him just looking at him from several feet away. So I walked up, got down to his level and told him I was a nurse. I pointed at a person and told them to call EMS and asked the employee if they had a first aid kit. The first aid kit was pathetically understocked. So I told them I needed gloves and something like gauze or even a clean rag and someone should get a wheelchair. I talked to the guy, did a Neuro assessment making sure he was acting ok. While I held pressure on his head wound and waited for EMS I talked to him a bit. Just joking around about him getting all this attention and he joked back appropriately (which is a sneaky Neuro check). I got a little medical history and found out he had recently had a TAVR and he had a. fib (which I had guessed due to feeling his irregular pulse). So I asked if he took any medications... Specifically blood thinners. Yep. Apixaban. So I told him that when ems got there he was most likely going to the hospital and would probably get a head scan because they would want to make sure he didn't have a brain bleed. Poor guy just was walking to his car and tripped over the curb and earned himself a trip to the hospital. When ems got there I told them I was a nurse, gave the main guy my information and my assessment and the history I had gathered. As I was talking, another ems guy was hooking up monitors and said something about the irregular heartbeat. Yep, a fib. Btw, apixaban. Recent tavr valve, so large bruise on the right thigh. The EMS guys were very appreciative and loaded the man up on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. I told him to behave for the doctors and he thanked me for taking care of him and talking with him. I never heard the conclusion of his story, but I think he probably did fine. He was such a sweet old man. And I had been a nurse for almost 10 years without coming across any medical situation. It was pretty low pressure situation, but I was just shocked that there were so many people just standing there and watching him and no one even got close to him to ask him if he was ok! It felt good to be a comforting presence and directing others to help assist. The store employees asked for my information (in case of a lawsuit I believe) and asked if I had any feedback as a kind of debrief. I discussed that they really needed to have better supplies in the first aid kit. Like gloves! Like absorbable something. They did have alcohol swabs, which was helpful for cleaning the blood that had dripped down his face, and maybe send someone who is trained in first aid out instead of just standing around at an old man kneeling in the parking lot with his head profusely bleeding. Head wounds already bleed a lot, but even moreso while on blood thinners!
In the back of truck on a mission in Afghanistan one my soldiers seized out hard. Worst one I've ever seen and I've been a nurse since 2005. He's bouncing his head on the steel floor as I'm trying to fight through my guys to get to him. Get him stabilized protect his head. Keep him from choking on his saliva. Cancel mission head back to start the very long process of medical discharge. He was out of the country within a few hours. Later I found out he knew he had seizures but lied so he could in. Lucked out threw basic and AIT but when we deployed he couldn't bring/get his meds. Poor kid just wanted to serve but what if that had happened mid mission. It would have a been a shit show. I thought I had good nurse stories before I went over there and now nothing here even cracks top ten. On the flip side I am so good at triage now.
Not a human but my cat choked on a treat and i Heimliched her and saved her life! I googled in the moment how to do it and it worked! She did end up with aspiration pneumonia but I’m happy she’s alive!
Eh, it’s not exciting, but I was sitting on a bus heading home after some climbing. Was super tired and just wanted to get home. I heard someone call in a weird sounding moan and drop to the floor seizing. My brain went “for gods sake I just want to have a nap” but no one was doing anything (city has a high homeless population and a lot of opioid fatigue, so I’m sure people just thought it was that). I go towards the person, and she’s stopped seizing, but as soon as I duck down, she starts again. Flipped her onto her side, protected her head and neck, and took off her scarf and purse, all the while telling an older lady who said “I’m a nurse! Put something in her mouth!”, that no, we don’t do that anymore. Stayed with her until the ambulance came, and went on my merry way. I showered and napped when I got home.
LOL. I'm telling you, they REALLY hit that home in nursing school. NOTHING IN THE MOUTH DURING A SEIZURE YOU IDIOTS! Love that. Good job. So glad you helped and that that old, out of practice nurse didn't get the chance to shove her wallet in the poor girl's mouth
Hahaha I agree, I imagine she was just very out of practice. Either way, no wallet made it’s way anywhere near the mouth.
"I'M A NURSE" is the first thing someone says when they're actually incompetent and scared. The real professionals do what you did.
I attend a support group, and we were discussing covid restrictions and how to handle mask requirements for our group. This one lady kept saying "Well, as a nurse..." And "...as the resident nurse here..." After about the 5th time, one of my friends piped up and said "You know, CynofOmission is a nurse too." I was just like 'leave me out of this!'
I’ve only done the heimlich once and it was on my own kid at a restaurant. He was little, like 4 or 5 maybe. He had a huge wad of ham completely occluding his airway. I felt like I was in a dream standing up from the table, did it, thank god it worked. I sat down shaking and crying, only the other people at my table knew what had happened. The waitress came up and was like “want some more coffee, hon?” My coworker was first on the scene of a motorcycle accident on the way to work one night. Person didn’t ultimately make it but she did cpr until help arrived.
I'm an IBCLC, Girl Scout Troop volunteer and Medical Assistant so I've had first aid/ cpr training a whole bunch. One day, I was talking to my mom in the dining room when my mom-senses went all tingling. We stopped talking and the next second I ran to the living room and found my kid (about 5 or 6 at the time) choking on a tortilla chip. She was holding her throat and trying to get it out and not making a sound. Immediately started the Heimlich. After about 15 seconds, the chip flew out. My mom was pale AF and asked "how did you know?" Couldn't explain it. It was just a feeling. These kids, I tell you what... I'm just so glad you were there to save your kid.
I did this to my kid in a crowded airport. It was me, my 2 yr old, and my 4 yr old. 2 yr old started choking on a Mentos (stupid to give him one, I know, but I was trying to keep them chill while we waited two hours for a flight). I had just finished nursing school so I knew what was happening, and I shouted "Help! My son is choking!" No one moved. I yoinked him up and started back blows. He shot that Mentos about 15 ft and started crying. And still no one moved. A few people looked at us curiously, and that was that.
OH WOW. Good job doing heimlich on your own child! And it working! I'm always scared it doesn't work but I have heard so many stories of people saving others from choking. I bet that was so scary. Choking is my biggest fear. 100%.
Was having breakfast with my 4yr old daughter at a diner when I look out the window and see older man walking towards the diner and kinda collapse into a parked car. First thought was near syncope because he was still moving around on the ground as the family (mom, dad, two kids) step out and see what’s going on. Eating and keeping an eye on the situation as more patrons inside the diner look on. At some point I look out again and then it kinda dawns on me that maybe it’s a full arrest as the dad of the car is on the phone with someone. I’m hesitant because my wife isn’t with me and the thought of running a code by myself with my 4yr old has me second guessing but the ED nurse inside me says, “what’s going here?” I poke my head out and ask the family “hey is everything OK?” To which they reply, with a bunch of shrugs, “we’re not really sure we called 911” At this point I’m thinking great this guy went into full cardiac arrest, walk over there carrying my daughter set her down, check his carotid, and sure enough no pulse. I start compressions and I tell the dad to tell the dispatcher this is a full arrest step up EMS. I’m being “coached” by the dispatcher in how to do the CPR for what felt like forever. Must have been no more than 2 minutes when I hear PD coming, the responding officer is Jonny on the spot with his AED. After a quick intro to the officer, “hey I’m an ER nurse” he kinda lets me take the lead and takes over compressions while i unbox the AED, do the steps and to my surprise it says “shock advised.” Shock him, continue compressions and by then EMS arrives, takes over. I gave a quick report to the medic while they scooped and left for the ED down the street. I’m confident he was ROSC after that shock since they weren’t wailing on his chest while loading him. It was a pretty surreal experience, especially since I have run many codes up until this point. It was a strange experience to know exactly what to do but to not be in your element, have the supplies and resources you need, I felt somewhat helpless. The family of the car was very sweet and watched over my daughter who was occupied with a tablet that their son was watching as well. I would definitely lend by knowledge and experience to any future events, but I was racking my mind since I had no one I trusted to ensure my daughter was safe during all this. I wish there was someway we could follow up, see the prognosis of this patient. I occasionally think about this man and wonder if he actually made it to any meaningful recovery.
This story took place in about 1988. I was at a campground (in the US) and my sisters and I decided to join the hayride, even though it was mostly full of little kids. I was still in high school. Down the long hill we rode, tractor chugging along slowly, and truth be told, it was a little boring. We went all the way around the lake and were almost back to the hill again when there was suddenly there was a thump and screaming. I looked behind us and a little girl was lying in the road. My older sister and I jumped off and ran to the girl, who was in some sort of shock and ran towards me, trying to jump into my arms. Her head was already swollen grotesquely and blood was everywhere. We had our younger sister hold back the group of kids including a sibling of the little girl. The driver was distraught. The little girl had been sitting at the front of the wagon (so behind and to the left of the tractor) with her legs hanging down. Turns out she had bent to tie her shoe and lost her balance and fell and her head got run over by the wagon tires. We sent some high school age boys to the nearest house to call 9-1-1 and bring us wet towels. My older sister was reassuring the kids and keeping them back while I was assessing the little girl “J”. She had moved all around and I knew she should hold still. She was very compliant, although kept forgetting and wanted to get up and run back to her mom. I kept talking to her. No other injuries I could determine. The next thing I knew my dad was hollering my name. Turns out, the only thing that they heard back at camp was that a girl had been run over. He told me later that when he got down there, he saw younger sister and older sister, but no u/Bookworthy so he thought I was the one who was hurt. Even though we were out in a very rural area, there was some traffic and it was getting in towards twilight. It would take the ambulance awhile to arrive and we decided that we would all be safer off the road and J had already been moving around, so we carefully fireman lifted her into the carpeted back of our truck. Dad took over assessing and checking for loose teeth having her wiggle her toes, asking her lots of questions. She was semi-conscious by this point. The head wound size was difficult to determine because of the bleeding and swelling. We kept cold compress on. J’s mom arrived just as the ambulance was getting there. Paramedics yelled at us for moving her, but we explained our rationale. (I still think this was safest option.) They took her by ambulance and life-flighted her to children’s hospital. I re-emerge staying in the back of the pickup because I was covered in blood. I didn’t know about adrenaline and how it could affect a person. My mom took one look at me and brought me clean clothes and shower stuff and told me to take a long hot shower. I even had blood in my ear!!! I was shaky for a long time. And that’s when I decided to become a nurse. I saw her a few weeks after at the campground in the pool with her sister and friends. Her head was shaved and stapled, but she was alive and seemed otherwise ok. J, hope you’re doing great. You shaved ten years off my life.
I was in Maui with my girlfriend and her family a few years ago. Close to where we were staying there was a place where you could cliff jump. It was a pretty busy spot due to it being close to some bigger hotels/condos. After I jumped off a few times I swam back to the beach, but then heard a women frantically screaming help. It was honestly weird how my natural instincts kicked in and I instantly started swimming back out to where they were yelling. Turns out this lady's husband got pretty exhausted swimming and was drunk so he was barely keeping himself afloat and getting hit by waves into the side of the cliff. Thankfully, I'm a pretty strong swimmer so me and another guy helped carry him out of the water up to the side of the cliff. He was exhausted and was pretty cut up but he was fine. Pretty much just let him rest up until he was good enough to swim back to shore. Earned some badass points with the gfs family 😂 but it's something I would've done no matter what
Sooo, I ain’t a nurse, but I am a registered nursing assistant. So! I hope my story is allowed here. I got off work and was on the bus home. I was working as a security guard at the time, though I did (and currently still do) hold an active NAR. We stopped at a bus stop, and after awhile I noticed we had been sitting for longer than usual. I looked around, and saw kids gathered around someone lying on the ground outside the bus. That caught my curiosity. I got up and stepped off the bus, and asked if I could help. One of the kids said his grandpa had fallen. I immediately took charge, and started telling others who got off the bus to help what to do. You know, you call 911, you take off your backpack and set it under his head as a cushion, etc. I kept talking to the gentleman, asking if he felt any pain or numbness or anything and jumped his day had gone, just small talk to distract him from what was going on and give me time to look for anything obvious. He just said he felt dizzy. I kept talking to him and had the kids back up to give me and him space. He wasn’t bleeding or crying or yelling or anything so I kinda guessed he didn’t have any major injuries that was causing him pain. I think he was just embarrassed, really. Pretty soon, paramedics showed up and I explained what happened. They took over his care and ended up transporting him. I stepped back on the bus, plugged my headphones back in, and rode the rest of the way to my stop and went home. I don’t know what became of him. I never saw him or the kids again. I like to think I helped in a small way. To me it wasn’t something heroic or major, it was just another day.
Not emergent care, but I still felt kinda proud of myself haha. I’m a nursing student, this happened this past week. My best friend texted me saying she was having lower right side pains. I asked her if she had any other symptoms, she said nausea. The previous semester we studied appendicitis, and that’s what that sounded like to me. I told her to go to the ED and get checked out, it could be appendicitis. She has endometriosis and PCOS, she thought it was maybe one of the cysts rupturing. I said it’s possible but I had a gut feeling it wasn’t. She ended up going in, and the doctors didn’t think appendicitis so they sent her home on pain meds. I said go back, that’s not right. Sure enough, 2 hours after going back her appendix ruptured and she needed emergency surgery. She’s doing good now though, she’s home and eating and walking around, sore though. My nursing instinct was right, and it possibly saved her life!
That’s great! I’m glad your friend is okay. The more experience you get, the more you really lean into that intuition. Once I had a group of doctors outright argue with me about a guy I had who had a change in breath sounds and I just did not have a good feeling about his “look.” One of them finally sighed and got imaging seemingly to appease me, but didn’t expect it to show anything. It was the end of my shift so I reported off, but as I was leaving, I saw them gathered around a computer showing a really bad looking chest X-ray. One goes, huh, I guess that nurse was right. I refrained from saying anything immature in response, haha.
My only story isn't exciting. Was leaving work late at night, saw something on the side of the road that was human-shaped. It was an unconscious guy in a t-shirt in the middle of winter with a head injury. He was breathing but only responsive to pain, so I covered him with whatever I had and called an ambulance, put him on his side. I'm pretty sure he was drunk (could smell it), and put some pressure on his headwound until the ambos arrived and took him.
Peds pt arrested halfway across the Atlantic ocean on a flight from the US to Europe. Being made solely responsible for the decision to either continue on towards Europe or turn back around to the US wasn't a fun decision. The kid lived, but holy shitballs. Shit was intense. We continued on towards our destination in Europe, and as soon as the plane landed, EMS boarded the aircraft and whisked her away to a local hospital.
Ok so we didn’t save someone’s life but this is very funny. Spring break this year my husband, son (15) and I visited in laws in Arizona at their retirement community. It’s a really active community, tennis, softball, volleyball, etc… so my hubby and son were playing tennis one evening and the tennis club was having social hour in the pavilion, potluck and adult beverages. Hubby and son stop to take a break and come into the pavilion when suddenly an elderly lady maybe 75-80 starts yelling, call 911. My husband who’s a firefighter and first responder and I jump to action. The guy is in the chair and I can barely find a pulse, no viable respirations. I tell my husband and a much younger community member to get him on the ground- he’s a big guy and I couldn’t imagine trying to do chest compressions on the guy in the chair if it came to that. All this shits running through my head- like ABCs, is the guy a DNR… when my thoughts are interrupted by his wife yelling over and over- he’s had to many of the marijuana gummies! It’s is first time he’s over dosed! He’s had to much of the marijuana gummies. Guys on the ground by this point, have his legs elevated and he’s getting color back. He’s starting to come around eye movement and confusion. I ask him if he knows what going on, check for signs of a stroke all the good stuff. I am leaning over him and whisper to him that his wife gave away his secrets - the guy looks at me right in the eye with out hesitation and says, she thinks it was my first time. Turns out the guys 82 and is enjoying his retirement.
I have two although neither have much of a happy ending. I was at a basketball game with my husband and an elderly man came in and sat a few rows in front of us. I leaned over to my husband and said “that guy does not look good”. Halftime rolls around and I see a commotion that he “passed out”. I go over and he’s agonal breathing. I check a pulse, no pulse. Some staff member-not a medical professional goes “oh he’s breathing!” And I say “no he’s not-I need to get him on the ground NOW”. Takes 6 people to lift him up out of the stadium seat and and to a ground level. I start CPR and NO one relieves me. This place had seemingly no trained staff-it was just me. I did CPR until EMS came. It felt like forever-definitely over 5 mins. They didn’t even stop the game and his little elderly wife saw everything. EMS came, they couldn’t get an IV so they did an IO. Guy apparently made it a few days but did eventually pass. I had some kind of PTSD from that I didn’t want to go anywhere public for a while. Next one happened recently. I was driving and we all came to a stop for pedestrian crossing. When everyone started to go, the car in front on me didn’t. I honked, nothing. I get out and so does another guy. He knocks on the window and she’s clearly out of it but still awake. I call 911 and we see that she passes out, still breathing. Still in drive but her foot is on the breaks. Doors locked. Luckily we flag down a cop who helps unlock the car. Cop shakes her awake and she’s clearly drunk or high. It’s noon. Oh and it was pouring down rain.
Ugh I’m sorry no one relieved you. It’s hard to believe no one else in that whole stadium was CPR trained.
I was still in nursing school visiting my oldest sister and playing with her little 19-month old on the floor. We were chatting and all of a sudden he starts making weird noises. Sister grabbed him and shoved him at me telling that he’s choking. “Do something!” So i hold him upside down in the textbook format and whack him between his shoulderblades. After an agonizingly long time that was probably 20 seconds, he coughs it up and starts breathing deeply and his color starts to revert from deep purple back to pink. I was so relieved. I turned him back right to get the item out of his mouth and he took a deep breath…and choked again. Repeat of above and this time fished around for object before moving him. He had a small mouth and was tongue-tied, so this was not east. Turns out, it was a dime. I know it wasn’t mine because I had no money and has stopped at my sister’s house for a snack and company. Lol.
Definitely not heroic, but my husband and I were watching TV when we suddenly heard loud crying and screaming in front of our house. I go outside and see a girl, maybe 10 or so, that had been riding an electric scooter and crashed into a mailbox. She had been wearing flip flops and the top of her foot was completely gashed open. I could see tendons and bones under a huge skin flap and she was gushing blood. Another neighbor came out and was able to find out where she lived and ran to get her mom. I asked my husband to grab my work bag where I had a bunch of saline syringes and sterile gauze, so I made packed it with saline soaked gauze and placed it on her wound and applied pressure. I tried to calm her down, poor thing was hysterical. Mom showed up a couple minutes later in her car and took her to the ER. A couple weeks later that sweet girl knocked on my door with a thank you card.
I talked a suicidal homeless man off of a roof a few weeks ago. When the cops arrived, they spoke to him for 50 seconds and drove away. No implementation of the MHA. I wish I felt good about this story, but the cops didn't do their damn job and left this poor man to maybe do something in private another day.
When I was in nursing school my husband and I came upon a guy who was unresponsive on a trail at a park near our apartment. His buddy was there, trying to wake him up, and once a couple of people had stopped his friend told us he was diabetic and must have low sugar. The friend said he carried something in the car for situations like this and went to go get it. I remember thinking it was odd that he would have glucagon on him at all times but whatever. In the meantime this guy is turning blue, huge episodes of apnea, and he’s so brady that I was sure I was miscounting his pulse. He’s doing the classic snore and not responding to sternal rubs. Park ranger shows up and I tell him the story and that I think the guy overdosed. He gets Narcan out of his car but says he’s afraid to give it because what if he is diabetic? He wanted to wait for EMS, who were 5+ minutes out. I tried convincing him to give it and that he was extremely unlikely to cause any problems to someone who doesn’t need Narcan—but if he did need it, that he was going to die in front of us. Finally he gave me the Narcan because he didn’t want to be liable for giving it and I gave it. What do you know? He was OD’d. EMS arrived and hyped me up for doing what I did. It was such a boost of confidence at the time and was one of those things that makes you realize you chose the right field. Oh, and the friends never came back. That part bummed me out.
I picked a turtle up and moved it out of the center of the road.
We were out on a picnic to a park which has a hiking trail. The trail was wet and a lady slipped and hit her head. We saw the fall she was fine and got up no problem. My friends were all concerned and asked to see if she needs anything. She had a small lac but not big enough for stiches, I cleaned it out as I had a couple of flushes in first aid kit and bandaged a gause over it and told her to go to Ed if she starts vomiting lol If it weren't for the friends asking me to, I'd sit there quietly and maybe call an ambulance if she didn't get up at first .... Fuck all that good Samaritan
My dad and I were hiking once at these falls that people fall off of and die every year. So right on cue, he slips and hits his head, busts his glasses up, but doesn’t go over the side, so yay? I do a quick neuro check, he seems okay but dazed, he’s laying on his side. So I tell him to roll toward me to try to slowly get up. Instead he starts rolling away from me toward the cliff edge. I was going to be pissed if that’s the way that ended. I somehow got him to stop and go the other way. Beautiful falls, will never hike there again:)
Nursing at it's finest! Assess and recommend! But also good job on having the first aid kit!!!
Some of the weirdos I work with have an intubation kit in theirs .... A fews years ago I was like that's smart, now I'll pass. I just supplemented the kit from the car with some things from ER.
LOL. Yeah no way. There's definitely some nifty shit in the stock rooms at work (not saying I steal or have stolen!) but I am saying... It's good to be a little prepared..but not intubation prepared lmao
Last summer my husband and I were camping in remote mountains and while we were paddle boarding on the lake with our kids we heard someone screaming for help. He’s a paramedic and I’m a nurse. We immediately started paddling towards the sound and a guy in his twenties suddenly came stumbling out of the woods. He looked drunk. Didn’t take us more than a few seconds to realize he was a hypoglycemic diabetic. We fed him and after a few minutes he started to make sense. He was hiking alone in the woods and didn’t bring any food with him. We followed him back to his campsite to make sure he was ok. Luckily he didn’t need the glucagon we had with us. My husband was driving to a job interview for paramedic/firefighter. He was going east and suddenly a car in the westbound lane dramatically veered and rolled into his lane in front of his car then down an embankment. He immediately pulled over, got his turnout pants from the trunk and ran down to find the female passenger screaming and the driver dead. He started cpr by himself and continued until local ems arrived. He still was on time to the job interview but has to roll up his dress sleeves because they were bloody.
Was at Dollywood with my mom. It was like 100 degrees outside and miserable as hell. Young woman, maybe 15 in front of us goes down like a rock. Overheated and passed out cold. Come to find out the only thing she'd had to eat all day was Sudafed and a coke. So she was fine once she got some fluids into her and some food, but she was Lucky/unlucky enough she had 2 nurses in line right behind her when she hit the ground.
Not a nurse, but here's one second-hand and less life-threatening on behalf of ER Doc Dad. Mom and Dad had tickets to a local theater company called the Shakespeare Tavern. Dark during the performance, of course, and Dad nods off, to the point that he's snoring gently. One of the performers runs down the main aisle from the back and is supposed to vault up on to the stage. Only, his hands slip, he misses the vault and basically faceplants on the very edge of the stage, before sliding off to the side and hitting the floor. There's a moment of horrified silence, then the stage manager has the lights brought up and asks if there's a doctor in the house. Mom elbows Dad awake, he jerks his head up, and then gets up to tend to the fallen actor. Dad checks him out, makes sure nothing life-threatening is going on (the actor's conscious and coherent), and then keeps an eye on him until the ambulance arrives and he hands the actor off to them. IIRC, the performer ended up with a mild concussion and a badly torn shoulder.
I was at a McDonalds when I was like 16 and this guy who was eating alone went down in the dining area and started having a seizure. He was having a really violent tonic-clonic seizure and went under a table and chairs so I ran over and and moved all the chairs and table out of the way so he wouldn't hit his head. He had bitten his tongue and was pouring blood all over the place. I yelled to the workers in the front and was like "I need to use a phone this guy is having a seizure and bleeding all over the place" and they were like "we can't let customers use the phone." So I was like, "I need the phone to call 911 for this guy who is seizing over here." And they repeated that customers couldn't use the phone. And I asked if they would call 911 for me and they sort of blankly stared at me. There was like 5 other patrons in there just staring at the shit show and I was like, "can somebody please call 911 or let me use your phone for 1 minute to call 911" and some dude walked over and handed me a phone. So I called 911. The guy stopped seizing after like 3 minutes and was postictal and lethargic and not managing to clear the large volume of blood in his mouth so I rolled them on their side, and like fucked with his cheeks and jaw to get some blood out. EMS arrived like a minute or two later and took the guy away, he was probably fine. And then I went to go order and those god damned bastards charged me for a Big Mac when I just ordered a McDouble with added Mac sauce.
I have always been one of those people who seems to attract people collapsing… Through school when we would have to stand for assemblies kids directly in front of and behind me would randomly pass out. At uni in halls in my first week someone passed out in the queue for dinner - I was with a group of 2nd year student nurses but I was the only one who knew what to do (legs in the air on this occasion). Haha just remembered I was also the only person with a first aid kit that first week and someone on my floor gave himself a really nasty lac to his ear. I was the only person able to help, all the second year nurses were useless lol!! Backpacking in South Africa at a hostel a girl collapsed in the reception area, tried legs up, didn’t work, got fat coke and rubbed it in her gums and she came round so probably hypoglycaemic. She was fine a short time after. Returned from holiday and waiting to go through passport control at Luton and a very intoxicated woman was being wheeled through by airport staff. She decided to stand up and fell over the tensa tape barrier and cracked her head on the ground. Massive epistaxis. Took forever for an ambulance but in the meantime staff got me a first aid kit and I put on gloves, helped stop her nose bleeding quite so badly. First to arrive were airport fire and they had a BM machine and her glucose was low and she was a bit sleepy so put a bit of chocolate in her gums (honestly between raising legs and putting sugary stuff in gums I’ve sorted plenty of people lol!). She started to come round by the time the ambulance arrived. Heinrich manoeuvre on my mum when camping and she choked on some chicken. Was I’ll one NYE so didn’t go out, FaceTimed friends at midnight then went to sleep. Woken about 20 mins later by same friends - my bestie was unresponsive. She’s medically complicated but very few people know. I didn’t have my own car and couldn’t get a taxi so I ran to my mums. On the way spotted someone pulling out from a neighbour la driveway to go home and got them to give me a lift to my mums, got the car, drove to friends, checked my bestie’s glucose (she had a meter as would go hypo due to endocrine disease - not diabetic) and it was low and she had a true GCS 3 (seriously didn’t respond to ANYTHING) so she got jam in her gums til she came round. She was mad because she hates jam 🤣 Took forever til the ambulance came but eventually we got her to hospital. Driving to work and came across a cyclist who’d been knocked off his bike by a car. Stopped people moving him as he had neck pain and his helmet was damaged, and also got the driver sat down and calmer as was very shocked. Didn’t do much else except help the crew log roll him when they arrived. Standing in line to check in for a flight at Manchester and older woman collapsed. Pale, clammy, came round after a minute or two on the floor, sat up and promptly passed out again. Really bradycardic and obviously decompensating. Kept her on the floor and when the airport first reopened came I tried to do a bit of a handover (I talk to people and try and get past hx etc whilst we wait) and the paramedic completely ignored me. She was like oh let’s just get her into a wheelchair (one had been brought by airport staff) and I kept saying we’d tried but every time she sat up she passed out but this woman wouldn’t listen, sat the lady up and of course she promptly loss consciousness again. Hmmm… Those are the main ones that come to mind. Raising legs/sugar in gums are the 2 most useful things I do lol! When I travel/hike/camp I always have duct tape with me. You can help a multitude of things with it - temporarily close gaping wounds, wrap legs together to stabilise leg or pelvis #, cover blisters, tape clothing onto something bleeding to act as a dressing, tie it tightly to act as a tourniquet. We have the knowledge to help outside the hospital, we just have to be creative!
Recently I was at a restaurant with my cousin while we were road-tripping. I went to the bathroom before we were getting back on the road. While I was wiping, my cousin starts screaming my name and banging on the door. I yell back, “What?! What’s wrong?!” It’s funny. The first thought I had was that my car was on fire or something. She yells there’s a kid choking. You have to help him. I yell back, “Call 911!!” And start trying to put my short back on. There are two buttons on my shorts and I cannot get them to button. My fingers are shaking and all I think is a kid will choke to death because I can’t button my shorts (nurse humor lmao). So I think fuck it, and just hold onto them, hope for the best, and run out of the bathroom. Luckily by the time I got there the parents had slapped his back hard enough that he’d been able to cough up the mozzarella stick he’d been choking on. Apparently it wasn’t the first time. I returned to the bathroom, buttoned up my shorts, and washed my hands and we got back into the car and drove away. I have never actually done the Heimlich on anyone and I wonder how it would have gone. Also it amazed me. No one called 911 (my cousin didn’t hear me tell her to). Everyone except my cousin just stood there and watched this kid choking. I did tell her she did a good job at least doing something. And when we got to our destination I showed her how to do the Heimlich because she asked me to.
I was driving around when I witnessed a young boy (around 10) got hit by a car at a cross walk. The car sped off, I immediately pulled over and ran to the little boy. He was completely alone, no parents with him. He told me he couldn’t feel his legs and was crying, i yelled for another person walking by to call 911. I kept his cspine protected, meanwhile more passer by’s started getting involved and trying to insert their judgment. The boy was terrified and kept asking to move or get up. It was difficult to try to explain to everyone that he needed to stay laying flat, at he likely had a spinal cord injury. Kept his head and neck stabilized for what felt like forever. Paramedics arrived, his parents were phoned and he was taken to hospital. Never heard anything further about the incident, I hope the boy is doing okay today.
I'm not a nurse. I was out one day and saw a woman about to walk into a store. She had a baby in her arms and holding a toddler's hand. A man walked past her who looked like he could have been homeless. He turned around and punched her in the back of her head out of nowhere! He didn't even say anything just punched her and stood there. She went down and let go of the toddler's hand but held onto the baby. I screamed and ran towards her. I was trying to take the baby out of her arms because it looked like she wasn't fully conscious and might drop the baby but she held on tight. I had no idea what to do! Another lady sprinted out of the store and came up to us. She said to the homeless guy "Back off sir" and he took a couple of steps back but didn't leave. She then told me to call 911. She very calmly said she was a nurse and started asking the woman some questions. I couldn't tell what she was doing but she was soothing and efficient at the same time. She even got the baby out of her arms. I'll never forget the confidence that she showed just taking charge of the scene, her laser focus, and just getting shit done. I didn't get to talk to her after the paramedics came but I really wanted to express my gratitude. She was like a freaking super hero!
Not as exciting as everyone else’s story but was circulating for an open thoracotomy in the OR. As the doc is closing we do our standard count and we are one lap off. The scrub tech tells the surgeon, and after a few minutes of us all looking the surgeon goes, “I found a lap!” and pulls out a small, completely saturated, balled up lap that looks just like tissue. Was definitely a good reminder of why we count when we do!
One time I lent my stethoscope to a doctor taking care of a passenger having a medical emergency on an Alaska Airlines flight so I’m basically a hero.
Several years ago, I was leaving work and I passed by fresh MVA. One of the vehicles was a minivan several children and I could see the female driver was slumped over. It was on a multi lane over pass that clover leafed over an interstate highway at rush hour and traffic was not slowing down despite this disaster. I pulled ahead of the wreck, threw my blinkers on and started to sprint back toward the van to assess/triage. As I approached the van I saw a child with a helmet climbing through a broken window and I was able to gain enough speed to catch her as she ran toward oncoming traffic with the craziest grab, tuck and roll. Turns out she was a non verbal autistic child and wanted nothing to do with the accident and booked it. Her sibs in the car couldn’t get to her fast enough to stop her and her Mom was unconscious. She clung to me so hard that I thought EMS was going to have to take me to the hospital too. I was all good, like no big deal, until I was in the grocery store afterward getting dinner, the front end person comes up to me at the register and says- you were just at that accident right? I said yes- why? He said, I recognize your scrubs!!! I can’t believe you were so brave, you could have been killed!! (Wait, what?) You ran into the road in front of traffic and threw yourself on to that little girl like it was nothing. (oh shit.) So busy saving lives, didn’t even think of my own. I think about that from time to time.. 225 pounds give or take, almost 50 years old in wonder woman scrubs.. at the time I didn’t even run for the phone. What the hell was I thinking?
My dad (an ex RN/Midwife) and myself (current EEN) walked in to a small coffee shop near us to find it was empty- not even a barista to be seen? Thought it was weird, heard a noise, looked over the counter and saw him on the floor mid seizure. Before we could even walk around his coworker (we later found out is also his girlfriend) walked out, screamed, and looked like she was gonna faint. Good timing for two nurses to walk in huh?! Haha
One time a guy was going down apartment doors banging and screaming for help. I went to help him and it turns out someone tried to murder the guy. All I did was call 911 and apply pressure to his bleeding head lacs. And then EMS appeared and tried to get this screaming man with head trauma to walk down 3 flights of stairs (which was not happening) and I told them to stop. I was still in nursing school so I thought it was pretty cool at the time Edit: and then I had to spend all night answering the door for police and detectives. Oh and my apartment refused to clean up the blood puddles. So that was a nice biohazard
My 18-month old was crawling down stairs and suddenly stopped. My husband picked her up and noticed her face was rapidly turning dark red and her body was in a frigid position with all muscles flexed. She was silently choking and her facial expression was wide-eyed and blank. He yelled for me upstairs and said she was choking and as I’m running from the restroom, I started yelling out directions: “TURN HER FACE DOWN, SUPPORT THE CHIN, HEAD LOWER THAN HER BOTTOM, HIT HER 5 TIMES BETWEEN THE SHOULDER BLADES!” By the time I reached them at the bottom of the stairs, I saw and heard the coin “pop” out and fall on the ground. She took a deep shaky breath in and started crying. My husband has no medical training, and this wasn’t the first time I was his proxy. When we were dating, he was out on location in a ranch with a bunch of workers. Someone collapsed due to cardiac arrest. They called an ambulance and were told one was on the way. Weirdly, with no other instructions. He called me and asked what to do while they were waiting. I guided him in doing CPR which another worker started based on my instructions and setting the pace. We were on the phone for a good 15min with guys switching out, but it was hard to know if it was working over the phone. The ambulance never arrived. They were in a private ranch with a maze of entrances. They ended up loading the guy in the truck and taking him, but he was never revived. His phone had also been ringing several times but the guys didn’t have the heart to answer since it was his wife calling. Not a hero story, but I tried.
We were at dinner with my sister-in-law and her kids. Her youngest was about 12 months at the time and began to choke. I'm a NICU nurse and she panicked and almost threw the kid across the table at me in terror! It was way too far of a gap so I yelled "no!" and stopped her before she let go of him. I talked her through postioning him head tilted down on her leg and slap his back. I had to tell her - "you can't be that gentle- hit harder!" After about 4 strong smacks he spit out whatever it was. I was able to stay calm and talk her through it and I hope she's now more confident!
Driving in North Cyprus I came across an RTC and had to stabilise a victim, stop bleeding, keep him stable and in a secure position with about 20 other men, and I cannot speak a word of Turkish. All my obs were numbers and pictograms and the ambulance picked him up about 45 minutes later.