A nursing student about to leave on spring break had her first nursing experience after a man collapsed at Kennedy Airport in New York City, Sacred Heart University said in an April 20 press release.
Natalie Davies, a senior nursing student at Fairfield, Conn.-based Sacred Heart University, was waiting for her flight to New Orleans when she heard someone scream. Ms. Davies saw a man lying on the ground. She rushed to respond alongside another passenger, who she later learned was a cardiologist.
When neither could find a pulse, Ms. Davies began CPR. A bystander brought an automated external defibrillator, which the cardiologist used to administer shocks. After three rounds of CPR and AED administration, the man's pulse returned.
He was awake and talking when first responders arrived, according to the report.
"It was the first time I felt like a real nurse," Ms. Davies told WFLA. "I didn't think; I just knew what to do and concentrated on the patient. I wasn't even aware people were watching until after EMS arrived."
Ms. Davies is set to graduate this year and begin her career at Yale New Haven's (Conn.) emergency department as a critical care registered nurse upon graduation.