In Case Of Emergency

In is my opinion that every person should have a basic knowledge of basic first aid. I would also recommend that everyone take a class at their local Red Cross on how to perform CPR, the Heimlich Maneuver and use an automatic defibrillator. You may never use it, but if one day you find yourself in a situation where one of those skills are needed, you will be glad you spent an evening or an afternoon learning how to do it.

As part of my job, I am required to be certified in Basic Life Support (CPR), plus Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Neonatal Resuscitation (NRP). Each of those certifications need to be renewed every two years.

Today was my NRP recert. Here are Nurse Angela and Stacy taking their written exam: Here is Nurse Susie taking her written exam:

Here is Nurse Laura, our instructor. She is a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse. She is very funny. After our written test, she will make us "run a code" with a fake baby. Even though we know it is pretend, it can be very nerve-racking.
-Here is our patient, Resusibaby Annie:
Nurse Laura tells us she was born as soon as her mom got to the hospital. She is limp, pale and is not breathing! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO???? I decide to give the baby some oxygen.

I think I am so smart.

My baby doesn't respond to just the oxygen. So we had to give chest compressions to. Then I decide to intubate the baby so I can get more oxygen to her lungs (which was difficult, since this baby did not have a throat or a windpipe, so I had to pretend)

Then it was Stacy's turn. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, NURSE STACY?
She decided to give Annie oxygen too!
We decided that it would be easier to intubate the baby if we took her face off. It was.
She lived. We saved the day. The end.

Woo Hoo! I am re-certified until April 2011! Whew.