Teamwork

It was change of shift when the Med phone rang. The ED was already full, as it usually is at 3pm, and now a "stroke alert". A stroke is labor intensive so a few of us stuck around just in case. Second shift had it under control and then, just as we're getting ready to leave (again), the phone rings. STEMI. If you don't know, a STEMI is a heart attack, with obvious EKG changes. It's not a "cardiac event", it's the Fred G Sanford "this is the big one. I'm coming to you lisabeth." one. As a side note, if you're old enough to remember Sanford and son, you're old enough to have a STEMI. Anyway, STEMIs are also labor intensive and second shift was tied up with the stroke and everything else so Kate says to me, "come on John, we'll get this ." A few years ago I orientated Kate as a new nurse to the ED. Now she was taking the lead and I was assisting. We had a great medic and the STEMI was lined, labed, medicated, and on the helicopter to the Yale cath lab in no time. Teamwork, multiple people working cases together, one shift helping another, a student leading the teacher, the ED-Lifestar-Yale team, what we can't do alone, we can do together. Teamwork, many people, each doing their part, working towards one goal it's a powerful thing, a beautiful thing.