Tv and movies show them as a magical heart restart machine, bringing people back from the dead. But I’ve heard medical professionals say that’s not true, but they never elaborate. I’ve seen portable ones everywhere, so they must be needed fairly regularly.
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In simple terms the heart is made up of several muscles. These have to contract in a specific order to pump blood properly. One muscle compresses while the other relaxes and vice versa. This requires the muscles to be in rhythm with each other. If they get out of rhythm for whatever reason the heart does not work. This is when the defibrillator might be used. You shock the heart to stop it and hope that when it starts up again by itself it will be in rhythm again.
They are not needed very often though. But when they are needed it is very time critical, the heart is not pumping blood. This is most commonly due to a heart attack. Even waiting for an ambulance takes too long. Cheats compressions may help but are not as good as fixing the problem with the heart at once. The portable defibrillators you see are an easy way to provide this first aid as soon as the heart attack takes place.
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