You've heard of a defibrillator, but what exactly is a heart defibrillator? A defibrillator is a device that sends electrical shocks to a person's heart when their heart is acting irregularly. A defibrillator is generally used when a person is experiencing arrhythmia, which is an abnormally fast heartbeat.
When a person's heartbeat is too fast, they're at risk of an entire system shutdown. When a person's heart starts to race, blood can't get through veins and arteries and into all of the body's essential organs. When your essential organs do not get enough blood or oxygen, they shut down. This is not a good situation because if your organs are deprived of these vital items for too long, they can be damaged.
A defibrillator sends a shock to your heart, which slows down the heartbeat. Sometimes the defibrillator has to send several shocks to the heart before the beats return to normal.
What is an External Defibrillator?
An external defibrillator is something that emergency technicians carry around with them in case they need to pull someone out of cardiac arrest. If you've ever watched TV, you've probably seen a doctor or other emergency technetium place the defibrillator pads on someone and shock them back into reality.
External defibrillators come in a carrying case. They have a control box, a battery, electrodes, connectors and cables. The control box holds the battery and the circuits. It holds the power, or energy, until the input buttons tell the device that heart needs a shock. The device actually reads a person's heartbeat and will determine if it needs a shock.
The electrodes actually carry the energy to the patients' heart. The energy is passed through the cables to the connectors, which typically come in the form of two hand paddles. To make sure the maximum amount of energy is conducted, the emergency technician will place a gel on the person's chest. This gel acts as a better conductor than skin. It also protects the person's skin from being burned by the energy.
What is an Internal Defibrillator?
An internal defibrillator or defibrillator implant, works much the same as an external defibrillator. The major difference is that it's surgically placed under the person's heart. When a person has a defibrillator implant, they have a serious heart condition. Doctors recommend these to patients only if they think there is a great risk that the patient will continually experience abnormal heartbeats.
Defibrillator implants have similar components as external defibrillators, they're just placed inside of the body. Doctors are very careful about making sure that a person's defibrillator implant is working. After it's placed in the body, they run several tests to make sure the battery is up to snuff. They also ask the patient to return for a check up about once every three months. These frequent checkups let the doctor keep a close eye on the battery. After all, what is the purpose of a defibrillator if the main energy source isn't working? So now, if you get asked, "What is a defibrillator?" you can give an intelligent answer.
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