One of the Team Is Down! An On-Duty Paramedic in Prolonged Cardiac Arrest

A 29-year-old male paramedic on duty in a hospital-based emergency medical service system presented to the emergency room with complaints of chronic midback pain. In 2019, when the patient was on duty and complained of back pain for over 3 days, his supervisor instructed him to go to the emergency room. The patient collapsed and went into cardiac arrest; he received a total of 16 doses of 1 mg epinephrine (10 mL of a 1:10,000 solution), 2 doses of amiodarone, 1 dose of sodium bicarbonate, and an infusion of beta blocker agents, which were administered throughout the resuscitation that lasted for 63 minutes. The patient was discharged 27 days later with a patient cerebral performance category score of 1 and no neurologic deficit. Prolongation of resuscitation attempts can result in good outcomes for selected patients.