Safer To Cardiac Arrest In A Mall Bathroon Than A Hospital…
January 4, 2008 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Suffering from cardiac arrest while staying in a hospital might be more deadly than receiving such a fit at a crowded airport, according to a new study.
Being a nurse, I find this hard to believe. I would think that we would respond quicker and get CPR and an ET tube in place quicker than an innocent bystander looking for the AED on the wall. I can not remember more than a 3-4 minute lag or down time for any code situation that I have ever personally been involved in. And what if the person needs to be trached or a balloon pump inserted for concractility of a mushy heart? I don’t see that happening on a mall floor.
The study published by the New England Journal of Medicine stated that in 1/3 of all hospital cardiac arrests, nurses and doctors did not move quickly enough resulting in brain deprivation and death. Hmm… I don’t know about this one. What do you think?
