August 2015
Stephanie
Prejean
,
RN, BSN
CATH LAB
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
Baton Rouge
,
LA
United States

 

 

 

On Wednesday three heart alerts came into Our Lady of the Lake Emergency room around 9:00 pm. This is extremely rare, to have more than one at exactly the same time. Being that it was after hours, our call team responded to the first call. And unfortunately, the call team is only prepared to safely handle one emergency at a time, on the occasion two can be managed, but it isn't ideal. The team leader began calling out to other team members (who were not on call) for help. No one else is required to come in, but knowing how crucial it is for the patients to be treated as fast as we can and knowing that my teammates would be struggling severely to handle the three cases, I came in to help. With every heart attack, we treat them with the utmost of importance, time is the issue we say. In order for these patients to have the best outcome (which we strive to achieve), they would need help, lots of help. I, along with another nurse and 3 techs responded to the call and came in on our own good will. Being a team player has always been a crucial part of my work ethic. I believe that when taking care of other sick people at important times in their lives, working together can not only get the best outcome but will also give the patient the best experience. We met our "door to balloon" policy of 90 minutes on each one of the patients that night. Had the four of us not given up our free time and felt it necessary to help, those 3 patients may not have even survived the duration of the night. I responded with no hesitation, and I would do it again tomorrow.