44: "Heart Attack" or Anxiety?

“As nurses, we care for a lot of patients with anxiety, right? We have to fight not to get jaded and write off our patient's symptoms. It would've been easy for this nurse to just administer some Xanax or Ativan and gone on with her shift. It's not like the patient's vitals were super high or super low, but this nurse tapped into two things: her intuition and critical thinking skills.” You may recall this quote from an earlier episode, but we’re revisiting it today because discerning between a heart attack and anxiety can sometimes be tricky. There’s a lot to learn from this story of a patient that was experiencing a huge myocardial infarction but downplayed her symptoms as "just anxiety." Listen in for a lesson in intuition, critical thinking skills, and MORE! Topics discussed in this episode: Sarah’s patient’s initial complaint and symptoms What concerns the primary Nurse had about the patient’s presentation Pathophysiology and treatment of inferior wall myocardial infarction Revisiting the components of “M.O.N.A.” Applying MONA to inferior wall MI Nursing considerations for managing patients with a STEMI How the nurse saved the patient’s life How you should respond to a patient with chest pain If you would like to check out Sarah’s 1hr, 1 CE course, go to: http://www.rapidresponseandrescue.com This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique http://www.podcastboutique.com