Recently, Ms. Jisa Mathew was assigned in CCU 4th floor with two patients. One of her patients was a 140 kilograms female who was ordered for discharged by the treating consultant and was only waiting for Business Center clearance. Four female relatives were waiting together with the patient. There was a problem with the Identification Card, hence the delay in the physically discharging patient from CCU.
At 2200 hours patient was ushered out of CCU via wheelchair by Ms. Jisa Mathew and she accompanied the patient to the ground floor, waited with the patient for the taxi to fetch the patient and her relatives. During that time, I was assisting the CCU assigned Doctor with CPR on a patient. Since the patient was a clear order for discharge and all others needed things done, Ms. Jisa pushed her patient via wheelchair and stayed with her waiting for the taxi with the four female relatives. She wanted to ensure that patient boarded the taxi to be sent her off with the relatives.
The patient which Ms. Jisa brought down suddenly collapsed when she was about to enter the taxi. She pulled back the 140 kilos patient, laid her down on the ground and followed the ACLS Algorithm. She was shouting for help at that time but unfortunately no one from the people around her helped her. She called CCU for help via her mobile phone which she put on speaker. She was asking the people around her to activate the Code Blue but no one listened to her plea for help. She continued to do her chest compressions until her colleagues came and they took turns doing chest compressions. One physician passed by and he helped them to revive the patient. Finally, one security took pity on the nurses doing CPR on the ground and brought a trolley and they brought the patient to Emergency Department. It was sad to note that the patient was not revived but I would like it to be known that we have great nurses who will do everything to save a patient. Ms. Jisa could have sent down the patient with her four relatives so that her other patient was not left with her other colleague, but she chose to accompany her and wait with her for the taxi. Alhamdullilah she did.
At the time when the patient collapsed, Jisa was alone and most probably that adrenaline rush enabled her to pull a 140 kilos human being, placed her on the ground and remembered what she learned in the ACLS. She maintained her composure, did not panic, and shouted for help, although no one wanted to help her and was even asked by some security guards to remove the patient because it was impeding the traffic but still she continued her chest compression while speaking on her phone and asking for help from her colleagues upstairs who were doing also CPR on one of their patients. According to her, she was shouting for help and even the four relatives did not help her to call for help most probably because they were shocked to see their relative who was joking and laughing with them suddenly collapsed. But for Jisa, the life and safety of her patient are of utmost importance. Although she was alone, she did not panic and she tried her best to save her patient.
If I have not known and witnessed this incident, I would have not known how brave and strong, committed, compassionate, and passionate Jisa is to her profession. Despite being alone doing the CPR, she did not fail to remember what she had learned in the ACLS and did her best to save her patient. I have worked and supervised her during the past years and I found her to very timid, soft-spoken but very meticulous in her job and always a team player. She is a slim built lady and I never thought that she would be that strong, how calm she was and remembered her ACLS algorithm considering that she was alone. For some people, they might be flustered and panic but she did not. Throughout the ordeal, she followed the process to ensure her patient safety and did her best to revive her.