On Monday I inserted my first IV into someone just before a man was carried into the Emergency Room on a stretcher. Apparently he had fallen from the cab of his lorry whilst going around the corner at full speed. Unfortunately no one knew about any other conditions he might have had before he fell, however he presented with high blood pressure and when the doctors roused him he confirmed that he had 'pressure' so he was give two sprays of nitrates under his tongue. Moments later he had crashed and the doctors started CPR immediately taking turns. He was intubated so that his trachea remained open and one of the doctors controlled his breathing; he was given a total of three shots of adrenaline and his heart had stopped beating for nineteen minutes before it finally started again. Throughout the CPR his oxygen saturation had been fine (98% or above) but as different specialists from other areas came down to ER his saturation levels started to drop. I was put in charge of controlling his air bag and ensuring that he continued to receive as much oxygen as possible. His stats continued to drop over the next hour and the surgeon announced that he thought the man had a haemopneumothorax which is where blood starts to collapse the lung. He inserted a chest tube which should help to release the pressure on the lung and re-inflate it. Although the man still wasn't stabilized he was sent to ICU where he was then sent to surgery. A few days later we found out that he had survived.
Later that day I performed my first sutures including one over the eye and a very wide cut on a young boys leg.
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