ECG Interpretation Made Incredibly Easy! Recommended?

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Does anyone recommend this book? or is there a better reference out there. thanks for any tips on what to order

Kelly

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Anyone? Just your experiences with this book before I order it or another book you'd recommend when learning how to read ecg's. tia

Kelly

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

hi, kelly! to tell you the truth, i've never read or even looked at a copy of ecg interpretation made incredibly easy! so i can't comment on it. i did, however, 20+ years ago, get a copy of rapid interpretation of ekg's by dr. dale dubin which is still in publication--he is always updating it. he has a web site which is quite colorful, but is basically plugging his book. i've given you a link to his site in case you want to check it out. i found it a bit difficult to navigate around it and beat my way through the advertising to get to the actual free information that is there for nurses. his book is still the most recommended resource for learning ekgs that i know of.

i'm assuming that this is something that you are learning in school. so, i am listing some websites for you to check out where you can get some free information that is pretty good. for school, i can't imagine that you are going to have to know much more than what the basic arrhythmias look like, if that. you want to make sure that you have a good understanding of how blood circulates throught the heart, how an electrical impulse travels normally through the various structures of the heart and the resulting arrhythmia which occurs when something goes haywire with the way an electrical impulse is generated and/or conducted through the electrical system. so, pull out your a&p book to review these items.

http://www.gwc.maricopa.edu/class/bio202/cyberheart/cardio.htm - cyberheart from professor crimando at gateway community college in phoenix, az. ekg review and an animated heart quiz.

http://students.med.nyu.edu/erclub/ekgexpl0.html - here is a short tutorial on how to read an ekg. click on the arrows at the bottom of each page to continue through the tutorial.

http://www.ecglibrary.com/ecghome.html - you can click on links to see tracings of different heart conditions. some are quite advanced, so don't let it all get you depressed. stick with looking at basic arrhythmias like sinus bradycardia, sinus tachycardia, pvcs, atrial fib, atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia, a basic junctional rhythm, and just what the heck an ectopic beat is.

http://themdsite.com/ - this is the site of the dr. dale dubin who wrote rapid interpretation of ekgs. click on the link to go to the nurse's site and then scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on "continue" to access the information for nurses. on successive pages there is always the advertising information about his book that appears first, but as you scroll down the page, you will get to the information and animations on the site.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Thanks for the links! Yes, I'm in my last semester of the LPN-RN program and our first lecture consists of reading EKG's and Advanced cardiac meds. thanks again.

Kelly

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

The nursing "Made Incredibly Easy" books are good ones. The EKG book is good, so I would give that one a recommendation. It's a good one if you're going to work cardiac or telemetry when you graduate.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
The nursing "Made Incredibly Easy" books are good ones. The EKG book is good, so I would give that one a recommendation. It's a good one if you're going to work cardiac or telemetry when you graduate.

Thanks! I'll have to order one. I just wanted to know if it was worth the money before buying it. I'm going to buy it and check it out. thanks again! :)

Kelly

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I did, however, 20+ years ago, get a copy of Rapid Interpretation of EKG's by Dr. Dale Dubin which is still in publication--he is always updating it.>>

Thanks! I ordered this book too. It got really great reviews.

Kelly

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Good luck with your study of EKGs, Kelly. When I started my telemetry job, my head nurse at the time sat down at the monitors with me for half an hour and pretty much taught me everything I needed to know to get by until I took the EKG class. It really is a matter of understanding what is going wrong with the electrical system because that is what causes the arrhythmia you see on the monitor. You may have to have a pair of calipers if you are going to be diagnosing strips although you can do the measurements using a piece of paper. Have fun!

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Specializes in Pediatric ICU.

Daytonite,

I, too, want to thank you for the websites. I'm a beginning nursing student and you can bet that I'm bookmarking those sites for future reference! :typing

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