Cardiac Arrests and What Nurses Need to Know

As per Wikipedia, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary arrest or circulatory arrest, is the sudden stop in effective blood circulation due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively, or at all.

It is generally different from a heart attack. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to a portion of the heart is blocked. On the other hand, sudden cardiac arrest results from an electrical disturbance in the heart that disrupts its pumping action, stopping blood flow to the rest of the body. It's also true that a heart attack can, at times, trigger an electrical disturbance that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Factually, as per WHO census statistics, mortality due to cardiac causes has overtaken mortality due to all cancers put together. Every year, approximately 4,280 out of every one-lakh people die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in India alone.

It is estimated that by 2020, Coronary Heart Diseases will cause one-third of the deaths in India. There is an enormous need for nurses and other health care professionals, as well as the general public, to know and be aware of the identifying symptoms. Nurses, specifically, should know how to act in the case of a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest.

Clearly, sudden cardiac arrest is a medical emergency. If not treated immediately, it may cause sudden cardiac death. Moreover, it's equally important that cardiac arrest trolleys are fully-equipped with all of the necessary contents.

Logically enough, the cardiac arrest trolley contents should be standardized. A nurse should know when the equipment should, and when it should not be used. There should also be availability of the equipment that supports airway and breathing.

Nurses must be acquainted with, and also know how and when to use the contents of a cardiac arrest trolley. Nurses are often the first responder health care professional to act during the initial stages of a cardiac arrest. Therefore, they should know that-

• Equipment on the cardiac arrest trolley should be available, and be available in different sizes. Different patients need different sized equipment.
• The patient’s level of consciousness is the determinant of which instrument should be used and which should not.

INSCOL, being an International Training Center for the American Heart Association, trains health care providers and police personnel on Basic Life Support Skills & Advanced Cardiac Life Support Skills. The objective of such courses is to ensure that health care professionals and nurses (most often the first responders) are able to act more effectively in any crisis situation so they can save lives. For more information, please visit: http://www.inscol.com.