Medicine to restart a heart?

Question

Alright so I volunteer at Cooper Hospital in Camden NJ... (for abdominal pain research), and I was given the opportunity to perform chest compressions on a person that was flat lining.

alright first off... what exactly would you call that.. I would say heart failure however that's not the correct term.

the doctors did a femoral insertion.. that's with a catheter right??? what exactly is it called?? and why do they do it?? is it just to have like an express lane to the heart??

also what kind of medicine do they usually inject into a stopped heart?? (the name is fine)

also.... cpr is fun

Answer 1

"Flat-lining" is called Asystole, or the lack of a heart beat, and the most common meds used are Lidocaine, Epinephrine, and Bretylium.

Answer 2

First of all, congratulations! It's great to be a part of a team that can save people's lives.

What probably happened is that the patient went into cardiac arrest (loss of proper cardiac rhythm) that could be from a variety of causes. There are two basic approaches to this emergency, depending on where you find the patient and who finds them:

1. BLS (basic life support): what you and the general public may be trained in; this includes the ABC's, CPR, home defibrillator, etc.

2. ACLS (advanced cardiac life support): this is what takes place in a a clinical setting by trained physicians; and includes analysis of heart rhythm, IV drugs, manual defribrillation, etc.

ACLS is just an extension of BLS when you arrive (or are already in) the proper location. The point is to return normal rhythm to the heart which is quivering or beating so "out of synch" that it can no longer pump effectively. Cardiac arrest does *not* usually mean that the heart has stopped and mainstream media often gets this wrong. For more information, check out a description of what defibrillation is (and is not) on wikipedia.

And, of course, for further information, you can find books and training information for BLS and ACLS at:

http://www.americanheart.org/