Coding Mr. S

I've been in a couple of codes during my short nursing career but this week was the first time I coded my own patient. It was incredible to see the amount of teamwork that went into trying to revive him. Doctors and nurses work really hard to get your loved ones back.

Sadly, after nearly 45 minutes of CPR, defibrillation, fluid boluses, and meds, Mr. S didn't make it. He was still breathing when the doctor running the code asked everyone in the room if there were any objections to ending the code and providing the patient with comfort care until he passed. This can be "disturbing" to the family someone in the room noted, "when the code is ended and the patient is still breathing. Respiration is the last thing to go." But Mr. S had no blood pressure, no pulse. His body hadn't been profusing for nearly an hour ...And so there were no objections and the code was ended. Mr. S stopped breathing. We washed his body and "bagged" him, tying a tag to his toe with his name and time of death on it. I had only known him for a couple of hours.