A defibrillator is used by medical professionals to help make the heart beat at a normal or near normal rate. When a patient's heart rate is either dangerously high or low it can cause serious, even fatal, complications if not rectified immediately.
A defibrillator works by sending electric shocks through the body to the heart which helps to resume the normal heart rate of the patient. One of the main ailments doctors and paramedics use a defibrillator for is when a patient has suffered a cardiac arrest, this is when the defibrillator has a good success rate for resuming the patient's regular heart beat.
However, when you think of a defibrillator you may not be aware there is more than one type of defibrillator. In fact, before the 50s, the defibrillator with pads that you hold to the skin to shock we all associate with the device did not exist. The only way to shock a heart before that was if the chest cavity was open which would have only been during surgery.
This type of defibrillator is considerably smaller than the one used outside the body as it needs to have smaller paddles as they are placed directly on the heart. This method is a much more direct route but can only be used during open heart surgery or any other operation where the chest cavity is open.
These are the two main defibrillators but there are other lesser known types such as one that can be implanted into someone's chest if they have a particularly irregular heart beat.
To see images of what a defibrillator looks like, search Google images for 'defibrillators' and it will show you an array of different defibrillators.
A defibrillator works by sending electric shocks through the body to the heart which helps to resume the normal heart rate of the patient. One of the main ailments doctors and paramedics use a defibrillator for is when a patient has suffered a cardiac arrest, this is when the defibrillator has a good success rate for resuming the patient's regular heart beat.
However, when you think of a defibrillator you may not be aware there is more than one type of defibrillator. In fact, before the 50s, the defibrillator with pads that you hold to the skin to shock we all associate with the device did not exist. The only way to shock a heart before that was if the chest cavity was open which would have only been during surgery.
This type of defibrillator is considerably smaller than the one used outside the body as it needs to have smaller paddles as they are placed directly on the heart. This method is a much more direct route but can only be used during open heart surgery or any other operation where the chest cavity is open.
These are the two main defibrillators but there are other lesser known types such as one that can be implanted into someone's chest if they have a particularly irregular heart beat.
To see images of what a defibrillator looks like, search Google images for 'defibrillators' and it will show you an array of different defibrillators.
