Law III: At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse

On average, in my hospital, medical PRHOs are part of the crash team* every other week. For the first time in the last seven months (I've done two medical jobs on after the other - doing a surgical job from April - more on that later), I was the first to turn up at a crash just near the main entrance.
While I know ABC etc better than the palm of my hand, and can talk you through it in my sleep, I froze. I was completely blank. I don't know why.
Thankfully, it was only a young girl who had fainted, and the SHO's were by my side a few seconds later, it still bothers me that I did not do anything. I've never had an issue at previous arrests, jumping in to do compressions or get venous access, so I can only surmise that it was the surprise at the lack of seniors that caught me short.
Not good. But its definitely taught me something: if in doubt, go back to basics. This is definitely a rule for all things, not just cardiac arrests.
The main point of this law, is to remind one not to panic.
It may also serve as a prompt for taking the patient's (although C comes after A and B; and it has been ruled out of the most recent guidelines, which feel that as even consultant anaesthetists have difficulty finding a pulse (in a patient who has 'crashed'), that lesser beings have even less hope, and therefore should go straight to compressions and breaths).


.....nearly there...all one needs to do is extrapolate**



* team including an anaesthetic reg, a medical reg, two medical SHOs, a medical F1, about three nurses (including one A&E nurse) and two porters.
** nothing is ever black or white