Advice: Don't be that new scribe that gets so distracted by emotion that they don't perform. I had a new scribe in her first code fail to chart ANY of the life-saving measures going on because she was so bothered by seeing a dead body. Then, she just put in a normal physical exam template. For a guy who came in cold. She said she was just overwhelmed by the emotional impact of the situation. The doctor was furious, obviously.

If you want to go into medicine, you have to be able to function in highly stressful situations and maintain your composure. Look at how teams working a code function.

It's totally understandable to have that problem once, but don't have it again. Once you have some experience, you'll see that scribes can be useful in codes-- we can dig up info in the pt's chart that the doc needs NOW (e.g., blood type, allergies, taking a blood thinner, PMHx, etc) and even call out when vital sign check breaks in CPR are due/overdue. But to contribute on that level while maintaining your charting, you have to be maintaining your composure.