code blue madness...

Recently whilst on my neuro placement I experienced an interesting situation in an outpatient setting. A patient was preparing for a rehabilitation session by removing his shoes and sitting on the plinth. This patient is independent in doing these tasks and at this moment in time the closest staff member was eating lunch in an office along side the treatment room. A fellow patient was in the room and when seizure began, loud calling was responded to immediately by the physiotherapist. The senior physiotherapist and students attended to the fitting patient, who remained conscious throughout the seizure and was now convulsing uncontrollably on the ground, by applying pressure to the wound on his head. The patient was then positioned in a stable position on the ground in supine away from harm and comforted as the involuntary muscular activity subsided. From this position, I asked my supervisor who to call... it was then deemed that it was a medical emergency, 55 was dialed and a code blue declared. TEN MINUTES LATER... the medical emergency team arrived. Despite the late arrival, blamed on inability to find our location, the team entered some what disorganised. The crash trolley did not arrive until another 5minutes later... 15minutes after the medical emergency was called. The other issue I raise was bedside manner. As a physio student, we are analysed and critiqued all day long so it is only natural that we pick apart every situation we are faced with... especially when blogging is needed:) The bedside manner of the medical team was, shall i say, suboptimal. This was the patient's first ever seizure and anxiety levels were flying high! All it would have taken was a "Hello, I'm Dr Smith, You are going to be ok". Throughout the entire ordeal, the entire medical team remained on their feet looking over the patient on the floor. The patient was not aware of the medical professionals' role, let alone their names. As we all know, we don't know what a seizure can mean. This patient may have been having another stroke for all we knew and everyone should have assumed the worse and acted over cautiously. This however was not the case, a fantastic learning experience and valuable lessons to be learnt by all, experienced and inexperienced. I have taken a lot away from this situation and am thankful that this learning experience did not cost the patient their life.