What a Shocker

I learned a valuable lesson while observing a 'code' in the ICU on Monday. I was doing the documenting, so I was not physically involved with the actions of the code, but I was obviously right at the patient's bedside.

Point to Remember: Before you shock a patient, it is very important to yell "ALL CLEAR" before you do anything!!

Yep, you guessed it...someone IN ADDITION to the patient got shocked!! All that stuff you see on TV about saying "CLEAR!" is pretty darn important!

Our charge nurse started to say, "I think we are going to need to shock him," and as he stopped doing CPR and stepped away from the bed, another nurse pressed the 'shock' button without saying a word. Um, that's not exactly protocol, if you were wondering!! So, our quiet respiratory therapist, Jason, who was busy 'bagging' the patient -- got shocked -- and everyone else started screaming "CLEAR!! CLEAR!!! CLEAR!!!! YOU JUST SHOCKED JASON!" Poor Jason -- he just stood there, and said with a deadpan face, "I just got shocked." (He never stopped bagging the patient, in case you were wondering!)

Jason is fine, by the way... we all did some laughing at his reaction later! He said he actually thought he saw lightening outside when it happened...kind of funny, kind of not.

I bet we will have a little 'staff meeting' regarding this incident, what do you want to bet? :)

***As an aside note, I told a story in an earlier post about "Wrong Mama"-- check it out here -- poor Jason was involved in this story as well!! Life is not boring in the ICU!!