A Fib Pathophysiology...Help Please :)

[Resanite]

Each week I have to do a patho form with pathophysiology, etiology, clinical manifestations, management, and nursing diagnosis.

This week my assignment is on A Fib. I am having a bit of ta hard time with it perhaps because I a still trying to grasp the whole concept of the heart itself still. My textbook does not have a big section on A Fib, but I have also found some info online.

My question is in order to explain the pathophysiology of A Fib should I explain the normal heart rhythms and then the abnormal, or assume the normal is known and focus solely on A Fib?

[closetoyou21, CNA]

Each week I have to do a patho form with pathophysiology, etiology, clinical manifestations, management, and nursing diagnosis.

This week my assignment is on A Fib. I am having a bit of ta hard time with it perhaps because I a still trying to grasp the whole concept of the heart itself still. My textbook does not have a big section on A Fib, but I have also found some info online.

My question is in order to explain the pathophysiology of A Fib should I explain the normal heart rhythms and then the abnormal, or assume the normal is known and focus solely on A Fib?

I think you should start with the electrical conduction of the heart,normal sinus rhythm then proceed to what is normal and what is not..There is so much to know about the heart but try to focus on what topic she gave you. What do you know about A Fib,what is the definition,why does it happen? Let me know what you come up with:)

[ChaseZ]

I would give a very brief description of the normal conduction and them go into the discussion of A Fib. There is so much you can talk about I'm regards to A Fib so you should focus on that information. Just some things to consider talking about....loss of atrial kick and its effect on cardiac output, risk for thrombus formation, relation to hypertension and sleep apnea, location of patho of ectopic pacmaker cells (Pulmonary veins -> left atrium), treatment, etc. There are tons of aspects you can talk about.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

A brief explanation of the normal heart is necessary to explain the aberrancies of the heart rhythm.

Atrial Fibrillation (AF or AFib)

Atrial fibrillation - MayoClinic.com

Not that I'm a big wiki fan....but hits is good at least for you to understand.

Atrial fibrillation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Atrail Fibrlillation Overview

http://icufaqs.org/ Look under arrhythmia.

[Resanite]

Thank You all for the advice...going to dive into it now!

[Resanite]

I started with the intrinsic conduction system of the heart and explained how electrical impulses are conducted from the SA node to the purjunkie fibers. I then described the irregularities and how AFib characterized by a total chaos of atrial electrical activity due to ectopic foci resulting in loss of effective atrial contraction. I also talked about how it occurs with other underlying diseases such as CAD, HF, HTN and how it develops acutely with alcoholism, caffeine use, sleep apnea, etc. I then explained decreased CO and thrombi formation. For management I listed drug therapies and cardioversion options.

Because I have to make a nursing diagnosis before I even see the patient I did- Decreased Cardiac Output r/t altered rhythm a.m.b. Atrial fibrillation.

Thanks for the advice- I am glad I included the norm.