Introduction 324 ECG Interpretation
Part 1
Cardiac monitoring is commonly performed in many areas in critical care. Applying a cardiac monitor is a simple task, but the circumstances may be very different from prehospital to the emergency department to surgery, including pre and post-operatively and the myriad of intensive care units and telemetry.
Part 2
The important thing to remember is that the patient has a monitor applied for a specific reason. Remain diligent in your observation and report any changes noted during "monitoring".
A cardiac monitor is a tool to be used to assist with assessment of the patient. Remember to always treat the patient and not the "monitor".
Part 3
An unresponsive patient with what appears to be Normal Sinus Rhythm may in fact be clinically dead. They may have something called "Pulseless Electrical Activity".
Pay strict attention to your patient's vital signs and level of consciousness during monitoring.
Authors and Sources
Authors and Reviewers
- ECG heart rhythm modules: Thomas O'Brien.
- ECG monitor simulation developer: Steve Collmann
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12 Lead Course: Dr. Michael Mazzini, MD.
- Spanish language ECG: Breena R. Taira, MD, MPH
- Medical review: Dr. Jonathan Keroes, MD
- Medical review: Dr. Pedro Azevedo, MD, Cardiology
- Last Update: 11/8/2021
Sources
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Electrocardiography for Healthcare Professionals, 6th Edition
Kathryn Booth and Thomas O'Brien
ISBN10: 1265013470, ISBN13: 9781265013479
McGraw Hill, 2023 -
Rapid Interpretation of EKG's, Sixth Edition
Dale Dublin
Cover Publishing Company -
EKG Reference Guide
EKG.Academy -
12 Lead EKG for Nurses: Simple Steps to Interpret Rhythms, Arrhythmias, Blocks, Hypertrophy, Infarcts, & Cardiac Drugs
Aaron Reed
Create Space Independent Publishing -
Heart Sounds and Murmurs: A Practical Guide with Audio CD-ROM 3rd Edition
Elsevier-Health Sciences Division
Barbara A. Erickson, PhD, RN, CCRN -
The Virtual Cardiac Patient: A Multimedia Guide to Heart Sounds, Murmurs, EKG
Jonathan Keroes, David Lieberman
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkin)
ISBN-10: 0781784425; ISBN-13: 978-0781784429 - Project Semilla, UCLA Emergency Medicine, EKG Training Breena R. Taira, MD, MPH
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ECG Reference Guide
PracticalClinicalSkills.com
