code blue

Well, I'm still responding to code calls. ("Code Blue! Code Blue team to respond to Room ___!")

It's nothing I've enjoyed since the start or volunteered for, however I'm not tied to any particular census of patients certain days so that frees me up to go push a crash cart around the halls.

Many things seem to go awry for me. It's mostly other people (like family members vomiting in my hair), but sometimes it's me (dropping the one remaining vial of atropine on the cart, watching in slow motion as it shatters into a million tiny glass pieces, as the patient bradys down to 20...).

Today was not much different. This time no code team duties, it was my patient crashing. He was perfectly fine with no symptoms one second, and the next he's like, "I can't see! I can't see!" and falls back in the bed like a wet noodle, eyes rolling back into his head, and out. After a few "Sir, wake up" shouts I called the code overhead. My voice sounds nice and shaky over the intercom.

A few IV medications and a thousand EKG strips later a somewhat stable patient is gurney'd out the door down to wherever somewhat stable but not quite stable patients go. It was very satisfying to be the one who initiated, but did not have complete the code.