Two days in a row...

      Two days in a row I we worked a full arrest. This time, I was working in the station closer to my house on a 24. We had an easy shift thus far and had a third rider as well. The tones that day were for fire alarms and lift assists. And a call for a seizure later on. Nothing much.
     So our Harry Potter obcessed student was a bit bored and upset about the whole no calls thing. Then we get another call for a slip and fall at one of the many fine fitness centers in the area. We jump into the truck and start heading that way. Enroute, dispatch tells us CPR is in progress. WTF? Another unit was in the area and got on scene first and started the initial resus. When we show up. We grab our jump bag and monitor and make our way inside. The arrest is by the pool and there is no easy or direct route to get there. That will make for some fun later.
     So the local FD is there with AED in place with a combi tube down. Ok, not bad. The AED analyzed and recommended, in it's expert oppinion that a shock was not advised. So CPR was continued. Apparently CPR was not the cool thing to do for some of those other rescuers, so the task had to be assigned. The combi tube that was places was not getting good ventilation and vomit was coming up the tube. Now, I am not sure that who ever placed the tube bagged down both tubes, but it was not pretty. So they pull the tube out, place an OPA and bag him. I do not recall if one of the other medics on scene attempted to tube or not, but I ended up with the task at hand. It was hard with all the vomit everywhere. We suctioned him out, removed his fake teeth (I wish I was able to do that with every intubation), placed the tube and confirmed it with waveform capnography (my new favorite resus tool). Initial C02 was about 9 or 10 not a good sign. And it didn't get any higher than 20.
     The presenting rhythms were asystole and brady PEA. Our student pointed out that an easy way to remember what to push for those two rhythms was Push Epi Atropine. PEA. Cool. And the acronym for VF/VT arrest is SCREAM. Shock, CPR, Rhythm, Epi, Amio, Mag. I had to do that the hard way. Ha!
     The one big issue we had on scene was that there were too many people there and there was an audience watching. We had the local fire chief, two or three of his chronies, two cops, a total of four medics, and a student. Another issue was that I was not able to use my "Full Code" app today. I guess it wasn't the most practical thing to do at the time. Oh well, the constant persuit of perfection is a never ending battle.