Emergency Procedures, Emergency Protocol

When there is a situation in a class and a patient collapses, there should be an agreed and established emergency protocol with designated responsibilities. The following is an example of a plan of action at a phase III exercise class:Leadership, Exercise Class Management and Safety ?A local plan of action should be established and adopted as the emergency protocol, where speci?c responsibilities to manage the emergency incident are assigned: Role A lead nurse responsible for immediate care of patient, delegation of activities to other staff and responsibility for using AED; Role B staff member deemed competent in airways management, responsible for maintaining patient’s airway in event of a cardiac arrest and assisting lead nurse in BLS procedures; Role C staff member responsible for emergency call and care of other group members.

• Plan of emergency procedures and appropriate telephone numbers

should be displayed in exercise area.

• Hospital crash call or ambulance emergency services

should be advised of the exercise session times/venue in case a call is required.

• Documentation should include a record that regular checks of emergency

equipment have been conducted.

• Incident and accident forms should be available and completed, as

appropriate.

Emergency plan of action Once a patient has collapsed, the following steps should be taken:

• assessment by the lead nurse, and BLS commenced as appropriate ;

• emergency help called,AED provided; assistance from other staff ;

• other patients reassured, removed from area and appropriate cool down

and monitoring undertaken by other team member ;

• resuscitation procedures continued until arrival of medical/emergency

services;

• clinical details of patient and incident given to medical services by lead

nurse;

• care of patient’s partner, if present; or contact partner to inform about

the incident; * continued management and reassurance of group before discharge home.