How do you react when your patient dies?

[jnr4817]

Death is the one thing that will inevitably happen.

I have been an ED nurse since 2004. I have had patients die and observed many more.

The one thing I rely on to keep me going, is knowing that I did my very best and gave %100.

Every time you lose a pt, you take a little bit of that person with you. I try to learn from what just happened, so I can go on and help another pt in need.

Jason

[gruntmedik]

I've been working on people for a bit over 19 years now, with the last 8 being a Flight Paramedic, and have managed to actually learn a thing or two along the way.

Everyone is different. We cope with death and dying in different ways, not all of them good. I learned, a long time ago, how to disassociate. The trick is learning how much to disassociate. Not enough, and you will have a very short career. Too much, and you have become a callous burnout just going through the motions. I still vividly remember the 1st time I did CPR, my 1st full arrest as a new medic, and my 1st pediatric full arrest. I still question myself when I have a pt die, but like many here, I realize that despite everything we do, people die. I use the experience to make me better--as a medic, and as a human.

[docfubar]

When I was in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman, the first PT I had die was an 18 y/o Marine who commited suicide over a girlfriend. He was coded on the ambulance twice in the ER and the last time in the ICU for 3 hours. That was hard but the people I worked with helped alot. The 2nd hard one was a DR went into the drink on a helo. The crew and the medevac was fine but the Doc got confused underwater and snapped c1-c2 after inflating his vest. He was my age and a shipmate. The hardest was my sonat 19 days old.

You do doubt yourself but as long as you know deep in your heart you did EVERYTHING you could and have a support group, other medics, DRs Nurses, Corpsman or Friends to help, you will be fine. Talking is sometimes the best medicine.

[Robb Jensen]

While on the Fire Dept I served as a Firefighter and a EMT-B I did CPR on 6 different patients. Of those only 1 patient survived. It was hard to except at first as I thought I had failed, it took me quite some time to except that some things are out of my hands. CPR rarely works and it's nasty, you break ribs and the patients vomit.
Sadly the only damn patient that survived that I performed CPR on was OD'd on crack. Her heart stopped on me 4 times. Chest compressions and a few rescue breaths and she was back.
While serving I saw everything you can think of except for child birth, weird but true.

[joker581]

I try very hard to stay detatched. I give the patient everything I have and walk away when care is transferred. I rarely follow up on a patient's condition unless it is to determine the effectiveness of something I did.

This approach doesn't always work, but it helps.

[Barbara]

CPR rarely works and it's nasty, you break ribs and the patients vomit.

My very first day out during ER clinicals, I had to do CPR on a patient and the sternum wires from prior cardiac surgery worked their way out of his chest, through my glove, and into my hand. I felt something poking so figured I'd busted his rib, and kept going...I was so busy watching the monitor, and the doctor putting in the line that I didn't really think about it and figured it was normal until I saw the torn glove and me bleeding and him bleeding. Oh, Shit moment for sure.

Pt. didn't make it, unfortunately, but wasn't infected with anything icky.

[thedog]

You move on. And pray, but you move on. And keep praying.

Thanks, Medics!

dog

[Limey-]

Over the 24 years or so in the field I have seen lots of Death and dismemberment.
I have seen the best and the worst of mankind....death is often a grisly business.

Any reasonable man might believe that, if there is a God, he's a vicious psychopath.

As others have said you get your 'saves' and you do the best you can for the rest.
Detatchment to a greater or lessor extent will help to some extent until you see yet another young child with a bullet in the head. It not a job for the weak or the depressive.

BTW: (on a positive note) I have saved and helped save lots of folks over the years with CPR, Drugs and Electricity. It can be done well

[thedog]

Well... between military duties of harming people and then civilian life of helping/saving I figure my score at -3, +5. So I am 2 up, for sure. And I didn't work any EMS, other than first responder. So I believe God let me catch up and pass the negative, to help me get on with life. I still have bad dreams, but not the horrible dreams of before.
The guy I lost a few weeks ago in my front yard? Well, I guess that's another lesson I am still learning. But remember, medics, you are always the good guys when you are doing it right. And most of you do, everyday you are alive. Thanks, all of you!

dOg

[benthughes]

I think I can speak for most people in saying that I do everything I can to be the best medical provider I can be. I train and study regularly and teach alot to keep my skill up. If I have a patient who dies I realize that I gave them their best chance at survival. I always try to learn from a bad situation and try to be better for it.

Humor is the big way to diffuse bad situations. We respect the dead and will talk about a bad situation in a productive matter but can always find humor in a situation.