Emergency Situation Arises

There are always unexpected situations that may arise in any medical treatment area. One can never predict what will happen to every patient throughout the course of a visit. This could not have been more true, or more alarming than one of our first patients during the second half of the day. As I was measuring a patients blood pressure, I heard through my stethoscope,  "Dr. R, Dr. R"!!!! As I looked up, the patient at the intake table immediately to my left began having a seizure. Luckily I was able to drop everything I was doing, rush to the table, and just as the patient was falling backward violently shaking and ready to hit his head on a cement pillar, I was able to grasp his head to protect it from harm. This patient was in a full blown tonic-clonic seizure. With the assistance of 3 students, I was able to transfer this actively seizing patient to a nearby medical bed to protect him from bodily harm. All the signs and symptoms of a seizure you may learn in class, or witness was happening right before our eyes.  This Rigidly stiff, shaking and drooling patient continued this episode for about 1 minute. Having no rapidly acting anti-seizure medications readily available, we stabilized the patient until the episode ceased. The patients post-ictal phase lasted about 30 minutes with him being confused and lethargic. I am pleased to report that the patient recovered fully. Cool heads prevailed under emergency circumstances.
I am proud of my students for having the intelligence to identify the situation, call for help, and stay calm under such a distressing incident!