Needing Study Help for Cardiac Dysrhythmias!

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Psych,Labor and Delivery, Long Term Care.

Hello everyone! I'm a senior nursing student about to begin my cardiac/respiratory rotation and I need some tips and suggestions. I've heard from recent grads that the dysrhythmias are difficult to learn and I was wondering if there were any helpful materials to learn the basics with. I appreciate all your suggestions!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

The most important thing to do is to understand what your looking at

what does the P wave represent ? are they regular, present, inverted etc

what is the PR interval ?

What is the QRS ? ie what does is represent

What is the T wave and what does represent ?

Learn to understand why these things can be short, long , inverted

Look at the relationship between each of these electric representations

Understand the heart is both a pump and a electric circuit.

take each rythym catagory and go from their

sinus, atrial, ventricular, ectopic beats, Idiopathic, Blocks,

or you could buy one of those simple guides to learning EKGs

I did and its a great book

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

What materials are your nursing instructors suggesting you use?

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I recommend: EKGs made simple.

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

jma-rn2b. . .see post #39 on this sticky thread in the nursing student assistant forum:

you will find some excellent links to websites to help you learn and understand the different arrhythmias.

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this is what i have, i posted this in another thread on another forum but am posting it here also. i personally know of 3 websites that can help you with ekgs, arrythmias, etc. i am sure others know of more and maybe they can post them here also.

www.skillstat.com

http://www.rnceus.com/course_frame.asp?exam_id=16&directory=ekg

from cardiac monitors.com and dr. dale dubin a file on ekg interpretation and more--http://www.cardiacmonitors.com/reference_sheets.pdf

here is something i got from a co-worker who is attending nursing school.

it is actually on paper, not a file, with a husband/wife picture but i wanted to write it on here.

the story of the av block family

key:

p wave = wife

qrs = husband

pacer = counseling

normal sinus rhythm:

the wife (p wave) waits at home for the husband (qrs). the husband (qrs) come homes on time every night.

1st degree av block:

the wife (p wave) is waiting at home. the husband (qrs) comes home late every night, but he always comes home and its at the same time every night.

2nd degree block type i (weinkebach):

the wife (p wave) is waiting at home. the husband (qrs) come home later and later every night until one night he doesn't come at all.

note: husband (qrs) must come home at least 2 nights in a row to see this pattern.

2nd degree av block type ii:

the wife (p wave) is waiting at home. sometimes the husband (qrs) comes home, sometimes he doesn't. when he does come home, its always at the same time.

note: this is usually more serious than type i (weinkebach) and will sometimes require counseling (pacing).

3rd degree av block:

wife (p wave) is no longer waiting at home. she and her husband (qrs) are now both on separate schedules and have no relationship and they are no longer talking. each spouse has a regular, individual schedule.

note: this frequently requires counseling in the form of a temporary or permanent pacer.

i thought it was cute and wanted to share. hope it helps!

luckygurl (aka jadu1106)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I loved your scenario! Thanks for sharing it.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Rapid Interpretation of EKGs by Dale Dubin is excellent.

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Specializes in ER, ICU cath lab, remote med.

What hypocaffeine said and here's something just for fun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhGGzB09wQk

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jma-rn2b. . .see post #39 on this sticky thread in the nursing student assistant forum:

you will find some excellent links to websites to help you learn and understand the different arrhythmias.

this is an excellent site, thanks so much! it really explains the types of solutions.

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Specializes in Psych,Labor and Delivery, Long Term Care.

Thank you for the suggestions!! So far, all I know about is the text book as far as suggested materials. The semester starts in a couple weeks, so I'll know this week for sure what other material we'll be using.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
thank you for the suggestions!! so far, all i know about is the text book as far as suggested materials. the semester starts in a couple weeks, so i'll know this week for sure what other material we'll be using.

do not restrict yourself to what the textbook recommends. they are only suggestions based on what the authors looked at. there is a lot more in the public domain that they may not have even seen. keep an open mind. there may be other information out there that may turn on the light bulbs for you and that is always the ultimate goal.

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