Beyond The Obvious

"No pulse!  Start CPR!"  The doctor barks out.  The patient lies motionless on the E.D. bed, save for the rhythmic twitching of his shoulder, courtesy of 120mA of electricity.

'Uh, Doc?  We've got capture, he's got wave forms on the pulse ox, and he's moving air (see the misting inside the non-rebreather?)..."

"Well, I don't have a radial pulse!  We need to start compressions!"

"HEY, PETER!  OPEN YOUR EYES!"

And with that, the patient opens his eyes, and says "What?  That still hurts, by the way."

"Oh, well, er, never mind then.  Lets get some Dopamine started!  More Versed!  Say, what else would you like to do to stabilize this guy before we ship you all off to (insert Hospital with Cardiologist here)?"

Same call:

"Oh Shit!  The pacer's not firing any more!  Put him back on ours!  Get another pacer!"

"Uh, nurse?  The Dopamine has picked up his rate, and it's faster than the pacing rate, so no, the pacer's not firing any more."

"Oh.  They do that?"

Same call:

"The Cardiologist is pissed!  She wants to know what happened to the Holter Monitor the guy was wearing."

"Uh, dude?  We took it off when we were saving his LIFE..."

(Note to self:  take the monitor with you, when you transport, to allieviate any further issues.)