If an arrest occurs in hospital or an ambulance, the doctors or ambulance staff give the patient an immediate controlled electric shock using a defibrillator machine. This shock restarts the heart, which then pumps effectively. If a cardiac arrest occurs at home or in the street, the patient cannot survive unless pumping of blood and a supply of oxygen resume within a very short time. CPR can keep a cardiac arrest patient alive until an ambulance with a defibrillator arrives. Every adult and teenager should learn this life-saving technique.
Doctors can usually diagnose a heart attack quickly and treat it.
The heart rhythm will be monitored continuously for the first day or two, and any complications treated. After that the patient's physical activity is progressively increased. Usually, the patient is home by the seventh day after the heart attack. During the hospital stay, each patient's risk of having further heart attacks should be assessed. Most patients recover uneventfully and do not require heart surgery.