Still breathing

When I work at the Charitable Hospital, I try to do only clinic work, primarily because Expectations and Roles are so different between my home country and this fair city.

But it was just a matter of time before something bigger happened.

I was seeing patients in clinic today at noon, when a nurse popped in and said I should come upstairs because there was a baby who was not breathing.

Running up the stairs with her, I found a newborn lying on a metal trolley, blue, floppy with no heartbeat and not breathing. Well, that's no good.

I immediately began CPR, and got a pretty healthy heartbeat after a minute or two, as well as seeing the little boy begin to pink up nicely.

But he just wouldn't breath on his own. By history, he had had his cord wrapped around his neck. I wasn't able to get anyone to tell me exactly when he had been born or how many minutes he had been laying there. (His mother, laying nearby, clearly had just given birth.)

After about 15 minutes, he did begin breathing spontaneously, and a "Junior Doctor" (the local name for the Resident type folks who run some of the Hospitals) got an IV in (Strong Work!). The patients regular Paediatrician came after about half an hour, and I was more than happy to hand over the job to him. The baby was still breathing adequately, and his heartbeat was fine, but clearly wasn't out of the woods yet.

Hmmm, nothing makes me hungrier than running a "Code". Overall, this was a good thing for me to do, because it helped me to see a little better how the System works (Yes, there is a System!). When I know better how the System works, I can better help improve it. Normal Newborn Protocols seems to be one area.

Wanna help?