Often times in TV shows and movies defibrillator is used when someone has a slow or no pulse but isn’t that wrong? Could some explain what the purpose of defibrillator is used for? And do shows and movie even do research before shooting the scene?
In: 5
Lets look at the word “defibrillator”.
“De” means to stop
“Fibrillation” – this is a condition where the heart isn’t beating correctly. Your heart has 4 chambers, and if the heart muscle doesn’t contract in a very precise order you aren’t going to get any blood flow around the body. The blood will just be pushed back and forth between the chambers.
So a “defibrillator” stops fibrillation.
It is a common misconception that a defibrillator starts a heart beating. It doesn’t. It stops it from beating incorrectly.
The hope is that after stopping the heart your brain gets its act together and kinda “reboots” the heart and it starts beating properly.
It also allows for CPR to be more effective. CPR doesn’t really help if the heart beat is wrong and working against the CPR. So even if the heart doesn’t start on its own after a defibrillator, a defibrillator followed by CPR still increases the odds a person will survive long enough to make it to a hospital where other techniques could save their life.
Latest Answers