Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse Read Online Free PDF

face remained a pale grey colour and was dripping with sweat beads. He looked like a wild animal, not knowing where he was or what had happened. His eyes were glazed over and he looked around without focusing on anything, He let out an animal like growl and then vomited down his chest. He began climbing over the side of the trolley and thrashing his arms around. He was strong and severely confused. ECG wires were being pulled off his body and he was pulling over the defibrillation machine as staff tried to restrain him from falling off the bed. He pulled out his IV line and blood spattered the floor, along with the vomit. I wasn’t able to hold the man up but I grabbed his bleeding IV site with my gloved hand in a bid to save all the nurses that were helping from a spraying of blood as he waved his arms around.
    He was lowered to the floor by the staff, where he sat down. A nurse tried reattaching the oxygen to his face but it hissed as the tube had come away from the wall. Another nurse wiped the sweat and vomit from his head and chest. The patient was breathing hard. He was conscious and had a palpable radial and brachial pulse. He was uncontrollably strong and confused from lack of oxygen; my gloved hand remained firm around his IV site, but my unprotected arm was covered in his blood from attempting to apply pressure while he was climbing off the bed.  Oxygen hissed where the attachment had been pulled away from the wall supply and people were trying to calm the patient, reassuring him and trying to guide him back to the bed. The defibrillation had been successful; however, to minimise stress on his heart, it was ideal that he la y on the bed rather than sit on the floor. His right arm hung in the air, still attached to the blood pressure machine and wires limply fell across the trolley where he had been lying moments before.
    I was amazed at how strong he was and that he could even stand up after dying two minutes ago and having 360 joules of electricity rage through his body. Having guided his slippery sweaty body back onto the trolley, the oxygen mask was replaced over his face at high flow and I put a swab over where the IV line used to be, securing it with Micropore tape.
    All looked calm again. The patient’s heart had stopped beating and he was unconscious for seconds prior to being shocked back into life.  The confusion that followed had been unusual, but was over now and the patient was settled. Members of staff started to walk back to what they were doing prior to the emergency buzzer sounding.
    After reattaching all the leads back onto the patient and reassessing his condition, he spoke to me about it getting dark and he wanted to know what had happened. I looked at the patient and was about to explain when he did exactly the same again. He went quiet, his head slumped back onto the trolley and his heart stopped. Repeat scenario. I pulled the emergency buzzer again, pads were already in place and the doctor charged the paddles. I removed the oxygen and stood back. One shock caused his body to convulse, but his heart reading showed he was back into a normal reading.
    The nursing staff ran through the resuscitation doors for a second time to see the patient being defibrillated, but luckily, he did not give the same confused response.
    This time around he was more lethargic. He vomited again on the pillow and remained on the trolley, just moving his head right to left, looking around. A short explanation and reassurance was given to him.
    After two cardiac arrests and two successful defibrillations, this patient sat up on the trolley and chatted to his wife about how he had driven himself to hospital because he ‘didn’t feel quite right.’ He reported having two episodes of amnesia where everything went black and there was only a small light amongst the blackness.
    I did not leave his side and accompanied him all the way to coronary care unit with a doctor and a defibrillator ready for action. I went to see