How an Australian nurse saved his own life during heart attack

  • 16/12/2017
"I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble."
"I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble." Photo credit: 7 News

An Australian nurse has pulled off a miracle life-saving rescue - on himself.

Ryan Franks had finished his shift at medical centre in Western Australia's Coral Bay when his chest started hurting and he collapsed.

"I went home and was just looking forward to the rest of the week, then the chest pain arrived and I went, 'This has got to be something different, it really can't be chest pain, I really can't be having a heart attack'," he told 7 News.

"Just pretty much everything went blank, eyes started going shaky, my legs went shaky, just collapsed to the ground, I went, 'I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble'."

In desperation, he called for an ambulance. But with time running out and the nearest hospital hundreds of kilometres away, he needed to take immediate action.

He prepared his own adrenalin and shock pads then called a doctor in Perth using Western Australia's Emergency Telehealth Service.

Dr Bea Scichitano, who was on her first ever shift, answered Mr Franks' call.

"I think it probably took me a few seconds to cotton on to the fact that he was the nurse and the patient at the same time, so that was a bit of a shock," she told 7 News.

Due to his quick thinking Mr Franks survived his near-death ordeal - and he got a new nickname. His mates now call him the 'self-serve nurse'.

Newshub.