Jargon Buster

Mouth-to-mouth

The medical term for mouth-to-mouth is artificial respiration. A responder will try and stimulate a patients respiration by blowing breaths in a patients mouth whilst holding their nose. Mouth-to-mouth forms part of the CPR process and is often used in conjunction with defib units. AEDs will give guidance on CPR and increasingly will give feedback on the effectiveness of the CPR being delivered.

Murmur

A murmur or heart murmur is caused by the passing of blood across valves from one side of the heart to the other. This noise can be heard with a stethoscope and is usually caused by abnormalities outside or around the heart and not is the heart itself.

Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial Infarction refers to a problem with supply of blood to the heart or where there is an interruption at some point due to blockage or tissue damage / failure. People often misconstrue heart attacks / Myocaridal Infarction as cardiac arrests but heart attacks themselves cannot be treated with AEDs.