To me this is an interesting topic... I've been involved in education and adult training for most of my adult life and with that, doing a lot of work in law enforcement, corrections and with EMS personnel. The one thing that stands out to me is the old (but true) saying: you will do what you train.

Having been an EMT, cop and worked with emergency services I learned to react to emergency situations as I've trained and after the situation is 'over' is when the emotional reaction hits. So, I think it is something that can be learned if you have the chance to do so and work at it. It also may be that it will also take a specific type of personality too... but I don't know about that.

For example, last year my wife had a medical emergency and after I did what I could as an initial response (first aid) I hit 911 and got the pros rolling to help us. When talking to the dispatcher I was able to provide vitals, directions and initial necessary information to help the paramedics and give them some information to work with while on the way. When they got here, I had propped open the front door, had the porch light on to help indicate our house and had tossed the entry way rug out of the way and got our little dog secured. They came in and I could give them a detailed report of what happened, timelines and my responses along with my wife's reactions, current medications, etc. I was able to help do the 'paperwork' during the assessment process (three person crews are great - two work with the patient and one does the documentation). As they drove away, that's when I got the shakes and went "oh, crap" about the situation.

I spent about 20 minutes getting myself back together and then went up to the hospital. The whole point is, I went into 'professional mode' when I had to and didn't 'think' or mull it over. It wasn't a blind reaction but a shift into a trained response and practiced set of steps that I was able to follow. It's just something to think about and consider if you too can train yourself to respond in a specific way to these situations - take a first aid class, do some volunteer work if you can and that could help. You didn't do anything wrong in your response and by recognizing the potential negative consequences of rushing in is a long way to learning an improved response. Good luck and be sure to keep the kids out from behind the refrigerator!