"Clear"? Not really...
My ambulance was sent to an American tourist who was in cardiac arrest. As you may well know, defibrillation delivers electricity through the heart in an attempt to restart it and this must be done quickly. The amount of shock you deliver is measured in joules and whilst the amount varies for kids, all adult patients receive the same joule amount.
My partner was managing the patients’ airway and I was at the stage of delivering a 360 joule shock.
I verbalised this to my partner and on shouting the warning “All Clear?” – an urgent American voice shouted “Wait!”

Thinking a dangerous contact with the patient had been spotted I stopped and asked what was wrong.
The American replied “The patient is an American”.
Me: “Yes I know. What’s the problem?”
American: “I heard you say you were going to shock him with 360 joules.”
Impatient me: “That’s right…”
American: “Surely that should be 180 joules then?”
Me: “No.”
American: “But our voltages in the states are half of yours, so surely…”
I stopped listening to him at that point.

I truly wish this story were not true, but I would mention that I could hear the rest of the tour group, to their credit, berating the guy who interrupted me.
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Thu 14 Jul 2005, 0:22, Reply)