Disclaimer: Not a doctor. Pharmacy student. I can count by 5's and keep a straight face while you describe your painful eye herpes infection.
Background: A heart attack can have multiple different signs and symptoms. Problem is that other non serious diseases can present similarly. Example: heart burn does not equal a heart attack.
Case 1: Homeboy has complaint of chest pressure. The lab tests the hospital drew to identify if it's a heart attack includes something called troponins. Troponins are released from dead heart tissue after a heart attack. Elevated troponins = lol you had a heart attack.
A troponin level of 2 is an indicator that the person may have had a heart attack. FIVE FUCKING HUNDRED is greater than, or equal to, 2. Cath lab means after a heart attack, if available, send the patient to a cath lab to get like a stent placed to open the closed vessels. I count pills; I have no idea what placing a stent entails. There is a time limit that must be met after the patient has the heart attack.
If you don't get them to the cath lab within 2 hours (I think?) then it's not worth it and you do something else.
Case 2: Patient had a family history of heart problems. Unstable angina = here and there heart pain. Not ideal if you don't know why it's happening. Lab tests ordered were not helpful. OP talks to physician's assistant and the heart doctor and OP says "we should like, make this jerk's heart stressed out through running or something and probably look around in that dude's body." Doctor says "k.".
Patient's heart was fucked up. 99% blockage to the left anterior descending (LAD) is not good. It's referred to as "the widow maker". I actually don't understand how someone can have a 99% blockage of this artery and be capable of walking since it's the one that supplies fresh blood to the heart muscle.
Make sense?