Cardiac

Question 1

What is a cardiovascular disease?

Answer 1

A disease or injury of the cardiovascular system: heart and blood vessels.

Question 2

What is a stroke?

Answer 2

The result of a blood flow problem in the brain.

Question 3

What are the risk factors for cardiac emergencies?

Answer 3

Controllable: Uncontrollable:

• hypertension -age
• diabetes -gender
• heart disease -family history
• being overweight -history of stroke
• excessive alcohol consumption
• smoking
• stress

Question 4

What is hypertension?

Answer 4

A blood pressure of 140/90 or greater.

Strains the heart and eventually weakens it. Can also lead to kidney and eye problems.

Question 5

What is atherosclerosis?

Answer 5

Is the build-up of fatty plaque in the artery once it becomes damaged.

Question 6

What is angina?

Answer 6

Is chest pain that occurs when the heart doesn’t get enough blood and oxygen as it need because one or more of the coronary arteries is blocked.

The pain may occur during physical activity or stress.

Question 7

What are the signs and symptoms of angina?

Answer 7

-Pain in the centre of the chest.
-Feeling of moderate to severe indigestion.
-Nausea.
-Pale cool skin.
-Discomfort in neck or upper back.
Numbness in arms.

Question 8

How do you treat angina?

Answer 8

1. Emergency scene survey.
2. Primary survey and activate EMS.
3. Place casualty in comfortable position.
4. Provide O2 via non-re-breather mask.
5. Help them take prescribed medication (nitroglycerine).
6. Aspirin may be used instead.
7. Record each time medication is given.

Question 9

How and when do you administer nitroglycerine?

Answer 9

• Max of 3 doses in 10 minutes, one every 5 minutes.
• Don’t administer if blood pressure is 100/50 or less.
• Don’t administer if viagra or other erectile dysfunction medication has been taken.

Question 10

What is a myocardial infraction?

Answer 10

Indicates the death of a portion of the heart when the supply of oxygen has been cut off due to a clot blocking a portion of a coronary vessel.

Question 11

What are the signs and symptoms of a myocardial infraction?

Answer 11

• Shortness of breath.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Nausea.
• Indigestion.
• Sweating.
• Pale, cool, clammy skin.
• Fear/anxiety.
• Denial.

Question 12

How do you treat myocardial infraction?

Answer 12

The same as with angina but with a greater expediency needed in getting EMS activated and using aspirin instead of nitroglycerine.

Question 13

What is a cardiac arrest?

Answer 13

Results when the heart will no longer pump blood effectively usually due to a heart attack, drowning, etc.

Question 14

How do you manage a cardiac arrest?

Answer 14

• Check level of consciousness
• Call EMS
• Administer CPR
• Prepare to apply AED

Question 15

What is a transient ischemic attack?

Answer 15

Is caused by a temporary interruption of blood flow to the brain.

The signs and symptoms are similar to that of a stroke but goes away in a few minutes or hours.

Is a warning sign of a full-blown stroke.

Question 16

What are the two types of ischemic strokes?

Answer 16

Thrombotic strokes: caused by a blood clot that forms in an artery directly leading to the brain.

Embolic stroke: occurs when a clot develops somewhere else in the body and travels through the blood stream to the brain.

Question 17

What is a hemorrhagic stroke?

Answer 17

Uncontrolled bleeding in the brain that interrupts normal blood flow, killing brain cells.

• Subarachnoid hemorrhage
• Intracerebral hemorrhage

Question 18

What is an aneurysm?

Answer 18

A weakened area in the blood vessel wall that fills with blood and bulges, high blood pressure or trauma can cause the bulge to rupture, resulting in uncontrolled bleeding into the brain.

Question 19

What is an arterio-venous malformation?

Answer 19

A malformation of the brains blood vessels usually present at birth, that causes the artery walls to be weak and increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.

Question 20

What are the signs and symptoms of a stroke?

Answer 20

• Weakness (loss of strength, numbness in face, arm or leg).
• Trouble speaking.
• Confusion.
• Decreased level of consciousness.
• Vision problems.
• Headache.
• Dizziness.

Question 21

How do you treat a stroke?

Answer 21

• Early recognition: ask the individual to smile, talk and raise both arms.
• Assessment and treatment like a heart attack but without the medication.
• Keep patient at rest in a comfortable position.