Heart Attacks Charlie Bloe Senior Charge Nurse CCU, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness

No shortage of work in Scotland! Coronary Heart Disease Statistics (2015)

22,000 heart attacks in Scotland every year: 14,000 men and 8,000 women. 7,500 deaths each year: 4,200 men and 3,300 women. 6 of the top 10 regions for heart attack deaths in the UK are in Scotland: Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Eilean Siar and West Dunbartonshire.

41% of Scotland's landmass but only 4% of the population. The challenge in providing heart attack care in the Scottish Highlands. 41% of Scotland's landmass but only 4% of the population. Population ~ 300,000 Most sparsely populated area in UK with 8 people per square km. (almost 5000 in London) Inverness

What is a Heart Attack?

The heart is about the size of a clenched fist. It beats about 100,000 times every day. It pumps out 3.5 millions litres of blood around the body every year!

Plaque in Coronary Artery Artery lumen

Plaque rupture.

How do I know if it’s a heart attack? If it occurs with exercise, anxiety etc and relieved by rest more like angina. Central, severe, heavy chest pain. Shortness of breath. Peaks over several minutes. Radiates down arms and into throat. Nausea, vomiting, pale, sweating. Feeling very frightened.

A heart attack is not a cardiac arrest

What should I do?

Your Ambulance Crew will arrive, make you comfortable and record an electrocardiogram (ECG)

Within 2 mins a cardiac specialist nurse in the CCU at Raigmore will be looking at your ECG and talking to your Ambulance Crew.

Not all heart attacks are the same! The most serious type of heart attack is called a STEMI. If you have a STEMI and it is appropriate your Ambulance Crew will give you an injection of a ‘clot buster’ into a vein. This will open the coronary artery in the majority of cases. You’ll then be transported to hospital and soon after a test called a Coronary Angiogram will be done at Raigmore Hospital. In most patients a stent is fitted into the coronary artery to remove any residual narrowing and keep the artery open.

Thank you