Yesterday I took my Medical First Responder Test. I had thought that I was well-prepared, but when it came to the practical portion of the test my team did not do so well. Our team of six were "called" to a bathroom where a 30 year-old female manikin had fell in the shower and was unconcious. After sizing up the scene, I immediately sent one person to hold c-spine and one person to begin an intial assessment. ABC's were okay so we quickly moved the patient onto a backboard. My partner holding c-spine remained in the shower due to the small size of the bathroom. During the initial assessment we found a deformed shoulder, mid-femur fracture, cool-clammy skin, and incontinence. Just as I began assigning jobs, the patient went into respiratory arrest while unsecured on the backboard. At this point two people were traction splinting, one person was running the BVM, one person was holding c-spine/jaw-thrust, and my cousin and I were monitoring the patient. Suddenly the patient entered cardiac arrest! I started CPR and my cousin went to get the AED. After five cycles of CPR, the AED was attached and ready (SOMEHOW!). We "cleared" everyone and press the shock button... our instructor then informed us that the provider sitting in the METAL shower was now down. We sent the two traction splint people to care for the downed provider. He was concious and slightly injured, but unable to further care for the patient. We continued CPR, and after five more cycles, we "cleared" everyone and pressed the shock button. Our instructor sadly informed us that my cousin and I were injured because we sat much too close to the patient. Now our team had four victims and three providers, so our instructor informed us that we needed to regroup and try again.
There you have it... my testing disaster story! Just so you know, we regrouped and passed with flying colors. I know there were so many things I could have done differently, but I just thought everyone might get a little laugh out of this story.