- Joined
- Dec 18, 2005
- Messages
- 949
- Reaction score
- 15
Guess this is the opposite to the funny stories thread. I had one of my toughest calls today, and I've been an EMT for almost 6 years (last 1.5 on a ALS 911 rig) We got called to a "baby not breathing." We took about 4min to get there. Mom had gone to wake up the kid from a nap, found him not breathing, started CPR. Kid was 8wks old, born 8wks premature, was 5lb at time arrest. Hx Downs Syndrom, AV malformation.
I started bagging the pt, partner itubated while our EMT student did compressions. Kid was in asystole on the monitor. Partner tubed the kid, this with a 3.0 on the second attempt, confirmed with EtCo2, BS. Intial Capnography 7. We tried to get IO access, couldn't with two tries in the field. (In the ED they couldn't get IO access with two tries) started putting Epi down the tube and transported emergent. (I know, why transport a SIDS kid? Cuz mom was there, sounded like a pontentially short down time.)
So I was driving while mom sat next to me in the front seat. What the hell do you say to someone whose baby you are 99.999% sure is going to die? I told her he was getting the best possible care, but I felt like anything that I could say was totally inadaquete.
Got to the hospital, they worked the core for about another 30min. The chest xray showed an enlarged heart, it was taking up most of the left chest. The called it and mom came unglued. (Totally understandable)
The next hour was taken up putting the rig together, getting interviewed by dectectives, etc. Then we ran non stop calls for the rest of the day. In 12 hours we did 9 calls, some of the transports 10+miles (big county). We had a structure fire, motorcycalist v car, kid with 105 fever, etc. Didn't really feel like I got a good chance to proccess the pedi core until now. I know that we did everything that we could, and that no medicine could have saved that baby. Still, the image of mom handing him to us, as if finally, help had arrived and now everything will be okay will stick with me. As will my struggle to bag a 5lb baby, keep the airway open, and make sure my student did good CPR (if you have never tried to bag an infant with a BVM, go practice on a CPR dummy)
Just looking for people's thoughts, have you had SIDS calls? Or if anyone wants to vent about those calls that keep them up at night. I'm going to bed and try to get some sleep so I can get up to get back out there again tomorrow.
Jbar
I started bagging the pt, partner itubated while our EMT student did compressions. Kid was in asystole on the monitor. Partner tubed the kid, this with a 3.0 on the second attempt, confirmed with EtCo2, BS. Intial Capnography 7. We tried to get IO access, couldn't with two tries in the field. (In the ED they couldn't get IO access with two tries) started putting Epi down the tube and transported emergent. (I know, why transport a SIDS kid? Cuz mom was there, sounded like a pontentially short down time.)
So I was driving while mom sat next to me in the front seat. What the hell do you say to someone whose baby you are 99.999% sure is going to die? I told her he was getting the best possible care, but I felt like anything that I could say was totally inadaquete.
Got to the hospital, they worked the core for about another 30min. The chest xray showed an enlarged heart, it was taking up most of the left chest. The called it and mom came unglued. (Totally understandable)
The next hour was taken up putting the rig together, getting interviewed by dectectives, etc. Then we ran non stop calls for the rest of the day. In 12 hours we did 9 calls, some of the transports 10+miles (big county). We had a structure fire, motorcycalist v car, kid with 105 fever, etc. Didn't really feel like I got a good chance to proccess the pedi core until now. I know that we did everything that we could, and that no medicine could have saved that baby. Still, the image of mom handing him to us, as if finally, help had arrived and now everything will be okay will stick with me. As will my struggle to bag a 5lb baby, keep the airway open, and make sure my student did good CPR (if you have never tried to bag an infant with a BVM, go practice on a CPR dummy)
Just looking for people's thoughts, have you had SIDS calls? Or if anyone wants to vent about those calls that keep them up at night. I'm going to bed and try to get some sleep so I can get up to get back out there again tomorrow.
Jbar