While scrubbed into general surgery, our patient started to code and convulse during the procedure. Our anesthesiologist simultaneously had to manually compress the ambu-bag, administer the appropriate medication to correct the code, and constantly reassess and recalculate what to administer. The instant it became apparent that an abnormal situation was developing, the circulating nurse in the room, Jason Booth, didn't miss a beat: he immediately stepped in to take over the ambu-bag compressions, delivering life-saving oxygen and freeing up our anesthesiologist to devote his full attention to the medication. Due to Jason's direct assistance, the situation was mitigated and returned to being under control.

After the operation, the patient woke up violent and erratic, attempting to leave the OR bed while still connected to an IV line and multiple cables and throwing kicks and punches at the OR team. Throughout that incident, we were all doing our part to hold the patient down to stop him from hurting himself (or us); Jason was near the patient's head, calmly talking him down the entire time. The patient eventually adopted Jason's calm demeanor and left the operating room feeling safe and assured.

Jason's skills as a nurse were tested multiple times in that procedure, and he rose to every occasion. Without Jason's intervention, the coding would not have been resolved nearly as smoothly (or it may not have been resolved at all!). Jason's role in ushering the patient back into a lucid state smoothed the struggle at the end of the case, ultimately concluding with a positive outcome. Because the patient was either unconscious or in an altered state of mind as the anesthesia medications were wearing off, he was unable to appreciate that part of the care he received, but speaking as a veteran myself and knowing that I could be the next one on that OR bed, it's great to see how our team handles these kinds of situations - and even if I wake up in a volatile way, that I'll still be treated with respect and kept safe.