Enter the very common scene: A patient is heading south/circling the drain. They're in an ER department, hooked up to an EKG machine when all of a sudden they flat-line. Immediately, the healthcare workers grab the defibrillator & shock the patient where they magically come back to life.
THIS IS A LIE.
[but giving drugs to a patient in this situation would be boring to watch]
"Flat-lining" is medically referred to as asystole. The heart in this state has NO electrical output. Normally electrical output tells the heart how hard and when to beat. We have backup systems if one conduction path fails but in certain situations [e.g., severe heart attack (MI), large amounts of potassium (hyperkalemia), massive clot to the lungs (pulmonary embolus), stroke, suffocation, narcotic overdoses] things can go awry.
In order for a defibrillator to work, there must be SOME electrical activity. Most commonly, patients whose hearts go into the dangerous rhythm ventricular fibrillation (v. fib) will get shocked.
As for aystole, patients need CPR stat. Drugs like epinephrine and atropine are also crucial.
And now you know. Don't believe everything you hear/see.
[normal sinus rhythm: the heart rhythm of most healthy people]
Yay! I am excited about this blog.
ReplyDelete