First Aid Treatment For Heart Attack

Important Information
• The most common heart attack symptom is chest pain (angina) accompanied by pressure or squeezing in the center of the chest that lasts for several minutes, or is intermittent and reoccurring
• Heart attack pain may spread to the shoulders, neck or arms; The patient may sweat or faint or complain of nausea, shortness of breath and dizziness
• The patient may deny that the chest discomfort is serious enough for emergency medical care; Use your judgement and don't delay alerting EMS if you suspect a heart attack

Patient Care for a Heart Attack
STOP - Assess and observe the scene
THINK - Consider your safety and form action plan
ACT - Check responsiveness, look for a medical alert tag bracelet and Alert EMS
Perform a primary and secondary assessment and monitor the patient's Cycle of Care - AB-CABS
For an unresponsive patient, perform CPR as necessary
For a responsive patient, conduct an illness assessment; If the patient has angina (chest pains) and the patient has no history of angina, alert EMS
If the patient has medication, assist them in taking it as prescribed
Help the patient to a comfortable position and loosen tight fitting clothes, collars, etc; The attack should ease within a few minutes
If the pain persists or returns, then suspect a heart attack and alert EMS
A half sitting position with knees bent is often the most comfortable position
Advise the patient to chew one adult (nonenteric-coated) or two low dose aspirins, if the patient is complaining of chest pains and does not have a history of allergy to aspirin and no recent gastrointestinal bleeding; This may be performed after activating the EMS system
Continue to monitor the patient's Cycle of Care until EMS arrives; Consider administering oxygen if available

First Aid Advice & Information for Heart Attack is for guidance only - Click Here to get Trained in CPR & First Aid