I did a precordial thump this morning when my patient went into VTach.
And it...WORKED!
Holy crap!
It's one of those annoying things about medical television is the frequency with which they do precordial thumps. And they always work on tv. And the doctor (it's always a doctor...when it reality it is more frequently a nurse or EMT) predictably says: "Breathe, dammit! Breathe!" And on tv, they keep thumping. In reality, you thump once and then you shrug and say, hey it was worth a try. And then you get on with the real business of undeadifying your patient.
But I thumped the guy and it FIXED HIM!
It was so damn cool, I was giddy for the rest of the night.
The intensivists are now calling me Thumpa.
Friday, August 15, 2008
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7 comments:
Nice going. You're right, much of the time it doesn't work, but when a thump does work it is very cool.
Wow, that actually does work, does it? Nice work thumper.
Awesome!
I've done a couple of precordial thumps on patients in the ICU with witnessed v-tach and it's worked several times. Definitely something to try before initiating chest compressions while the cart is on the way!
HIGH FIVE!!!!!! Thats AWESOME!
I'm insanely jealous. That's on my list of "holy shit wouldn't it be cool ifs" - good for you!
we're dying for an update thumpa!
I tried that yesterday when my patient went into Torsades - no such luck for me!
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