How Important Are EKG’s in an Emergency Room?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a heart attack. And every emergency physician knows that during a heart attack, time is of the essence.
Prepping a patient and performing an EKG can take 10 minutes or less, the actual electrical impulse reading takes only a few seconds, and it can help doctors determine:
- Irregularities in heart rhythm.
- If blocked or narrowing of the arteries (coronary artery disease) in a patient’s heart is responsible for the chest pain and if it is causing a heart attack.
- Diagnose structural problems in any of the heart’s chambers.
- Determine if there are signs of previous heart attacks.
Obtaining this information in a fast manner increases the survival rate of patients who may be suffering from a heart attack or have some form of severe heart disease.