Medical Emergencies
Defibrillation Video
This YouTube video was produced by Laerdal, http://www.laerdal.co.uk/ It shows an automatic defibrillator being used for a cardiac arrest.
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When a heart is fibrillating, the muscles are quivering very rapidly and producing lots of lactic acid. After about four minutes, the lactic acid poisons the heart muscle and makes recovery much more unlikely. Defibrillation needs to be done as soon as possible after ventricular fibrillation (a type of cardiac arrest) starts.
Modern "speaking" automatic defibrillators will diagnose whether a shock is needed, and will also advise you about when to resume cardiac compressions.
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