The Initial Steps in Diagnosing and Treating a Heart Attack
Different communities, doctors, ambulances, and hospitals have different practice styles and may differ in the exact order things are done. For example, if a doctor suspects you are having a heart attack during an office visit he or she will likely perform an ECG along with asking questions and listening to your heart and lungs. Medication such as aspirin may be given to you right in the doctor's office. The doctor or their staff may call 911 for an ambulance to transfer you to the emergency room of a local hospital if a heart attack is possible. If, instead, you call an ambulance from home, the ambulance crew may give you aspirin tablets and other medication by mouth and placean intravenous (IV) catheter directly into your vein.
After arriving in the emergency room, the ambulance transfers care to ER staff.
What Happens In the Emergency Room
You should immediately be seen by the ER staff. If this does not happen, tell anyone you see that you "may be having a heart attack."
If arriving by ambulance you'll usually be transferred from the ambulance stretcher, or gurney, to an emergency room bed. The initial assessment by the emergency room doctor or nurse includes a rapid history of symptoms (onset, duration, severity, location, what makes it better/worse, etc.) and examination (listening to the heart and lungs). Other actions taken almost simultaneously include:
- Taking off your clothing
- Obtaining "vital signs" such as a blood pressure and pulse rate
- Connecting you to a monitor and an ECG (electrocardiogram)
- Placement of an IV
- Drawing of blood for laboratory tests
- Starting oxygen via nose plugs or a mask
- Giving medication by mouth and through the IV