Scenarios
You arrive to find a 65-year-old male unresponsive, pulseless, and apneic. This is your immediate first action before any other intervention.
Starting CPR
This EMT-administered medication is given to chest pain patients not to relieve pain, but to prevent platelets from sticking together and making a clot bigger.
Aspirin
This broad medical term refers to a group of symptoms caused by a sudden decrease in blood flow to the heart muscle, including angina and acute MI.
Acute coronary syndrome
This portable medical device analyzes the cardiac rhythm and determines if a shockable rhythm is present during cardiac arrest.
AED
These vessels carry blood away from the heart
Arteries and arterioles
Your patient has crushing chest pain. You check their vitals and their blood pressure reads 84/52 mmHg. This is why you must withhold Nitroglycerin.
Systolic blood pressure below 100mmHg
This prescribed medication is a powerful vasodilator given sublingually to relieve angina, up to a maximum of 3 doses.
Nitroglycerin
This condition occurs when the heart muscle is damaged from lack of oxygen and begins to die, literally translating to "death of heart muscle tissue."
Myocardial Infarction
These are the only two specific cardiac rhythms that an AED is programmed to deliver a shock to.
V-Tach and V-Fib
hese specific blood vessels branch off the aorta and are responsible for supplying oxygen-rich blood directly to the myocardium itself.
Coronary arteries
A 50-year-old female complains of sudden weakness, nausea, and a "squeezing" sensation in her upper back rather than classic chest pain. This is what you should highly suspect.
Myocardial Infarction
This is the standard cumulative dose of chewable, baby aspirin given by an EMT for a suspected acute coronary syndrome.
162-324 mg
This chronic disease occurs when the heart can no longer pump efficiently, leading to fluid backing up into the lungs or the body/legs.
Congestive heart failure
This surgically implanted device is placed under the skin to regulate a patient's heart rate if they suffer from chronic bradycardia.
Pacemaker
These large vessels are responsible for carrying deoxygenated blood away from the body tissues and returning it back into the Right Atrium.
Superior and inferior vena cava
While performing CPR on a cardiac arrest patient, the AED says "No Shock Advised." This is your immediate next step.
Immediately resume chest compressions
These are the two major, absolute contraindications for administering Nitroglycerin to a chest pain patient, excluding low blood pressure.
Head injury and use of sexually enhancing drugs in the past 48 hours
This symptom happens when the heart's oxygen demand temporarily exceeds its supply, but goes away with rest or nitroglycerin.
Angina pectoris
This specialized, multi-lead diagnostic tool is applied by advanced providers in the field to look at the heart's electrical activity from 12 different angles to pinpoint an active heart attack.
The heart, vessels, and blood
A patient with a history of CHF is upright in a chair, gasping for air, with audible bubbling sounds in their lungs and severe pedal edema. This is the primary position you should transport them in.
Fowlers position
This is the primary reason an EMT must ask a chest pain patient if they have taken erectile dysfunction medications before giving Nitroglycerin.
Severe hypotension
This life-threatening type of shock occurs when the heart is so badly damaged that it can no longer pump enough blood to meet the metabolic needs of the body.
Cardiogenic shock
When applying a 4-lead ECG, this basic rule of thumb helps EMTs remember to place the white lead on the right arm/shoulder, the black lead on the left arm/shoulder, and the red lead on the left leg.
White on right, smoke over fire, gras under clouds
This physiological term defines the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle in a single contraction.
Stroke volume