It only took a little googling to learn about fibrillation, cardiac arrest, and how CPR is only temporary. Other than screaming “Live, damn you!” And slamming fists on the patients chest whilst the camera zooms dramatically, (eye roll) what do the professionals really do? Is a flatline just game over? Or is fibrillation much more common than flatline?
In: Biology
“Flatline” is correctly called asystole, and is a non-shockable rhythm.
Management is adrenaline, chest compressions, ventilation, and try to fix the problem that got you there. As you can imagine; this is often not very successful.
For more cardiac arrest guidance, have a look at the UK resuscitation council guidance and flowcharts, but broad principles are gas needs to go in and out (ventilation) blood needs to go round and round (chest compressions) and you need to remove whatever insult stopped the heart in the first place.
Note: I am UK based, so apologies if your local guidance doesn’t match this.
Latest Answers