Personal Narrative: My Emergency Procedure

It was 7 in the evening, the EMS rolled in a 12-month-old to our Emergency department. The infant was in respiratory distress, had cold, clammy skin. While awaiting the vitals, his mother admitted that he was having fever and diarrhea for 2 days and had a history of underdeveloped brain. Temperature was 105F, tachycardia and tachypnea seen and BP was not recordable. We immediately started resuscitating the baby. He was put on high flow oxygen, and connected to a monitor. However we failed multiple attempts at placing an IV line. Two IO lines were inserted, but both stopped working after little fluid infusion. At that moment, the infant’s father attacked me, threatening to punch me. It was nerve-racking; we had a sick infant and understandably angry parents at the same time. We were running out of options. From the experience gained from the emergency procedure conference last month at Harvard, I decided to place a scalp line. It worked! As we were tackling the fluid situation, the respiratory status was not improving. We decided to intubate which was successfully done on my first attempt. Several rounds into fluid boluses, antibiotics and respiratory support, the infant was stable for transfer to PICU. After explaining the condition, the father burst into tears, hugged and cried on my shoulders.

These moments of gratification comes with

The difference; it happens within hours and minutes. This makes it unique and challenging. It is the physician’s responsibility to exude an air of calmness, despite the fluttering of his stomach and the perspiration trickling down his back. Being a sportsperson, handling stress comes naturally to me. Whether it was a patient in SVT, not responding to adenosine or a status epilepticus, it was heartwarming to be complimented to manage these conditions with immense composure by the nurses and