Question

A 62-year-old male is seen with crushing chest pain, which he describes as being the same kind of pain that he had with a previous heart attack. he has prescribed nitroglycerin but states that he has not taken any. after administering supplemental oxygen if needed and contacting medical control, you should:

Answer 1

The answer would be: assist him with his nitroglycerin unless his systolic blood pressure is less than 100 mm Hg

Nitroglycerine is a venodilator that could help improving coronary blood flow in a patient with heart attack. But it has several contraindications, one of them is hypotension. It is important to check the blood pressure because hypotension might cause the blood flow become worse.