True or false: It is possible to defibrillate a patient in asystole?

Defibrillation is a therapeutic intervention that involves delivering a dose of electric current to the heart to restore a normal rhythm in cases of certain types of cardiac arrest, particularly ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Asystole, on the other hand, is characterized by the absence of any electrical activity in the heart, which means there is no rhythm to restore.

In the context of asystole, applying a defibrillator would not be effective because there is no electrical activity to disrupt or reset. Therefore, the statement that it is possible to defibrillate a patient in asystole is false, as defibrillation relies on the presence of a measurable cardiac rhythm for success. This fundamental understanding of cardiac rhythms and the specific indications for defibrillation establishes why this answer is accurate.