A nursing student walks into a hospital room where a woman who has just given birth is lying in bed. When the student asks how the new mother is feeling, she admits that she is dizzy, and might need to be sick. Preparing to examine her, the student pulls back the sheet and finds the mattress soaked with blood. The patient is experiencing a post-partum hemorrhage, and could bleed to death in minutes.
Instantly, the nurse scrambles into action—taking the woman’s blood pressure, affixing an oxygen mask, starting an IV. She calls for help, and her colleagues rush into the room, yelling back and forth as they assess what is happening and what needs to be done to save the patient’s life. After a few minutes of frenzied activity, the bleeding stops, the woman’s blood pressure stabilizes, and the team breathes a collective sigh of relief.
