Ulysses Johnson, III, PhD(c), MSN, CRNA is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist who saved the life of a passenger during a medical emergency on a flight and spoke about it on “SHERRI” show. He spoke with the Amsterdam News for a Q&A about his life-saving efforts during the flight, the work of a CRNA, and getting students of color into CRNA school. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AmNews: Could you tell us about your amazing story on the flight?
Johnson: I was on a flight that I was not originally supposed to be on because my flight was
cancelled the night before … so as soon as I sit down I [put] my earbuds in and I’m asleep … all of a sudden I hear “grab the AED” and I’m thinking I’m dreaming about work … and I open up my eyes then I see all the commotion on the plane, most times I usually just mind my business, but I had actually had on scrubs because I was actually coming from a conference. I went up to the front, introduced myself, and saw a guy in distress. I saw that he was already blue cyanotic so he was in acute distress. I [said] “get him on the floor let’s start CPR.” So we got him down. I said to [a] physician that was there “you start compressions I’m going to keep the airway open.” I told the rest of the [crew] to give me whatever first aid [equipment they had] … [We] got the AED there hooked that up to him, shocked him twice … then a trauma nurse [arrived] … and [the plane] turned around to do emergency land[ing]. [The patient] woke up very disoriented. He was by himself so really couldn’t get much history from him but I just kind of laid there on the ground with him so he wouldn’t hurt himself until we made a landing and then got him off the flight. I’ve been nursing now for [about] 19 years and that’s the first time I’ve ever had to “code”someone out in the field so it was a different experience totally.
AmNews: How did people react to what you did?
Johnson: People really [focused on] being at the right place at the right time and it gave me an opportunity to just inform the public what a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist [does]. This is an advanced practice nurse that’s backed by the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists which is our professional [organization] that is there to advocate for us as far as lobbying and mak[ing] sure we’re practicing safely. CRNAs aren’t something new but the public still doesn’t know about us. This shows that we’re always ready to spring into action. Really show[ed] people this is who we are. This is what we do and this is how some of the people look like that do it. It’s not that many people look like me in the profession. Out of almost 70,000 CRNAs, [a small percentage] are people of color.
AmNews: Please tell our readers more about your work and specialty?
Johnson: Your heart is a big electrical device. When electricity gets off, your rhythm gets off and so sometimes we do interventions where we burn different parts of the heart on the inside to kind of get things firing back in the right direction so that’s where I come in … While the surgeon is doing their job it’s our job to keep that patient comfortable, safe and hemodynamically fully monitored throughout the entire procedure. I worked as a cardiac ICU nurse for 13 years before I went back to the anesthesia school so that’s niche and I kind of stumbled into the realm of colonoscopies and I’ve actually lost three family members to colon cancer so I try to do my part to make [colonoscopies] a more pleasant experience and try to inform people.
AmNews: Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers about the work you do as a CRNA?
Johnson: I just want the public to know that [CRNAs are] here for every beat, every second, every minute. We’re there to get you through it; we do have that nursing background, so we are going to take the extra. I have no problem with holding your hand or you, taking the time to break things down to where you understand and you’re not feeling like you’re another body going through the assembly line so that’s why I really advocate for my profession.