4 minutes pushing a stretcher on the street, performing CPR on a young man who had an electric shock and stopped breathing

According to the investigation, at about 8:45 a.m. on March 15, Quang Binh General Hospital received information that Mr. VKC (born in 2003, residing in Quang Ninh district) was electrocuted and suffered a cardiac arrest while mixing concrete at the Dien Bien Phu road construction site (Phu Hai ward, Dong Hoi city).

This construction site is located about 200 meters from the hospital. At that time, Mr. Tran Thang Long, a hospital security guard, was the first person to receive information from the construction site, so he immediately ran to the Emergency Department to report the news.

Immediately after that, Mr. Long used a motorbike to take doctor Duong Thanh Luan to the scene first, while doctor Cao Quy Tu pushed the stretcher and followed behind.

As the person who directly performed CPR on the patient on the stretcher from the construction site to the hospital, Dr. Luan recounted: "When we approached, the patient was in a state of convulsions, and we could not feel the groin and carotid pulses, so we immediately performed CPR."

“I climbed onto the stretcher and performed CPR on the patient, while Dr. Quy and Mr. Long quickly pushed the stretcher straight to the hospital. At that time, the stretcher was moving quite fast and shaking violently, but I didn’t think much about it, just focused on racing against time while calmly performing CPR in the hope of saving the patient’s life. After nearly 4 minutes, we took the patient to the Emergency Resuscitation Department, which had full equipment, medicine, and support staff,” Dr. Luan recalled.

At that time, the patient was still in critical condition, in a deep coma, with cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, and no pulse.

Doctors continued to perform continuous chest compressions, use balloon pumps, vasopressors, and electric shocks. About 5 minutes after entering the Emergency Department, the patient had a pulse, stable sinus rhythm, and improved blood pressure.

To ensure respiratory and circulatory functions, doctors performed endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, performed paraclinical tests and held a hospital-wide consultation to determine the extent of the damage, thereby providing an appropriate treatment regimen. After the condition was controlled, the patient was transferred to a higher level for continued monitoring and intensive treatment. The patient has now had the endotracheal tube removed, can breathe on his own and is conscious.

Doctors assessed this as a successful emergency thanks to the quick and accurate response of the medical team, helping the patient overcome the critical condition.