What are the doctors saying in the movies?

E

erik_ande_85

Active member
Hey everyone!

I'm working on a commercial that will take place in a hospital.

The scene is a patient who is getting a heart failure.

Since english ain't my native language I have a hard time hearing exactly what they're saying.

I would really appreciate if you guys could write down a few terms that doctors and nurses are using during a "Code blue":happy:

Like:

- He's crashing!
- We've got a flat line!
- Clear!
- Pressure is sinking!


So all in all, what are the doctors (and nurses) saying in the movies during an emergency?
 
i don't know about in movies, but in hospitals:
code blue, crash cart, stat (=immediately, now), BP falling, BP 60/40 (or 40/20, or worse), pulse weak, BP flat, flatline (EKG monitor shows no heartbeat), s/he's in v-fib (ventricular fibrillation-- heart attack), defibrillator, epi (epinephrine = adrenaline), atropine, get an airway, bag him/her (air bag), stand aside, stand back, charging (the defribillator), got a pulse (during recovery after reviving with defib), start a line (central catheter), i need ABGs (arterial blood gases) stat (if the patient survives being jump started).

drugs and dosages given during a code blue
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=drugs+given+during+a+code+blue&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

hope that helps,
randall
 
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Standard lines you'll hear:

We're losing him/her.

Get the family out of here.

Nurse!

Charging, 200, CLEAR! Nothing, let's try again, charging, CLEAR! Let's go up to 300. Charging, CLEAR! Again.

Time death (military time).
 
Tell you what. I work in the field and a CODE BLUE is simply someone not breathing. Much of what Randall said is true and is typical of a CODE BLUE or someone in cardiac arrest.

If you are asking what doctors say simply because you want to be accurate then we will need to know what the precise scenario you are writing for. If you are looking for great DRAMATIC statements in a scene in a screenplay then Randall hit it on the head and use those.

Also if looking for dramatic statements I would rent a season of ER and watch it. Can't go wrong with success if you are looking to mimic.

If you want accuracy, let us know and we can surely get much more precise.

odetotud

PS - Randall, I live down in the twin cities area and have been looking for a wrting group to exchange my work with for tips and support. Seeing you live just up the road, relatively, I thought you might know where to look.

I am fairly new to screenwriting though I have been interested for the last 5-6 years. Read over 20 books on the subject and troll all the message boards. I simply know what I need to do is write on a regular basis and work on getting better with the craft. In the middle of my 2nd screenplay and am going to start plugging away on it again after a much too long of a hiatus.

Need to stop rambling, maybe stop alcohol altogether, lol
 
A patient in the midst of heart failure won't flatline. He'll go in to Ventricular Fibrulation or ventricular tachycardia, or a bradycardia. You won't have much luck defibrulating a flat line cardiac rythm cuz there's no electrical activity to reboot. Not even sure if it's indicated these days.

Flatline is so much more dramatic cinematically though for the token defib scene, cuz everyone knows it's a bad, and the little blip of the returning sinus rythm is so...so...touching.
 
Lucian said:
A patient in the midst of heart failure won't flatline. He'll go in to Ventricular Fibrulation or ventricular tachycardia, or a bradycardia. You won't have much luck defibrulating a flat line cardiac rythm cuz there's no electrical activity to reboot. Not even sure if it's indicated these days.

Flatline is so much more dramatic cinematically though for the token defib scene, cuz everyone knows it's a bad, and the little blip of the returning sinus rythm is so...so...touching.
Click to expand...


Haha!

Those terms went over my head!

We want a very dramatic hollywood cliché dialog in a emergency room. It's for a commercial so everyone has to understand it. it's a 30s ad. So everything has to be over the top and does not have to be exactly correct.

here are the lines so far:

NURSE #1: Code blue! We've got a flat line!

NURSE #2: Standing by with five cc epinephrine (can you really say this??)

DOCTOR: Stand aside. We're starting at 280! Clear!

DOCTOR: Dammit! We're loosing him!


This is a male nurse that sticks his head in just after the drama has been settled.

MALE NURSE: Doctor! We've got an emergency in hall 5!
 
There are errors all the time on TV and film, so well, I guess anything close and dramatic works. Just last night I watched CSI and the pathologist doing the autopsy was explaining and there was an accompanying animation showing how a bullet ricocheted off the vertebra to hit the ascending aorta-- except that what they showed was the bullet hitting the right side of the heart, not the ascending aorta.
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
There are errors all the time on TV and film, so well, I guess anything close and dramatic works. Just last night I watched CSI and the pathologist doing the autopsy was explaining and there was an accompanying animation showing how a bullet ricocheted off the vertebra to hit the ascending aorta-- except that what they showed was the bullet hitting the right side of the heart, not the ascending aorta.
Click to expand...

I don't think CSI is the best example for inaccuracies. I mean CSI makes me cringe when they happen to use some technology that doesn't exist to solve a crime, they use some piece of evidence that's connects the dots a little too well, and they walk into a crime scene wearing regular clothes and gloves.
 
"The only thing wrong with the Davis baby is... It's alive! Arrrrrrghhhhh!"

Ask doctors, not screenwriters. Or watch an emergency room documentary. Or read a couple of books. Research.

- Bill
 
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