An A & ACLS

whoot, whoo - I received an A on my prematurity website creation ---- big sigh.

Now I can breathe for a few more days.

Speaking of breathing;

I also did my ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) re-certification today.

Now, you have to keep in mind that I work in a labor and delivery unit.

I deliver babies and I think I do that farely well.

We do take care of emergencies also - things like a baby's heart rate falling, a baby

being born when no doctor is around, placenta abruptions, seizures, a ruptured uterus, and bleeding moms to name a few........but I hate it when we are dealing with a dying mom!

Or it could be grandpa that goes down while he is visiting, or a friend that has a heart condition.

So we prepare.

We practice.

We keep up our skills and learn how to read EKG Strips like these:

This is a nice, happy, normal sinus rhythm.

Regular and blood is perfusing.

but you don't want to see a strip like this.

Ventricular tachycardia

When this happens you call for help right away and are already treating the patient.

Before it turns in to this:

Ventricular Fibrillation

At this point we will need to use the defibrillator.

The heart is like a bowl of jello and no blood is perfusing.

V-Fib = D-Fib

God forbid you ever see one of these!!!!

It was a long day of class. I passed the mega code and the paper test - so I am good to go. I just

hope I don't have to use these skills very often.

Here's a short review of EKG Strips for you

And if you really want to see an example of what I did all day today - then watch this mega code video

I prefer delivering babies! :)

Debbie