mcmars

There is a difference...and please correct me if I'm wrong (because I am certainly no expert)...but there are some rhythms that can look like v-tach and not be v-tach. You really need a 12 lead of these kind of runs to look at the morphology of the QRS. There are some very technical aspects to evaluating these things...however...as nurses...the only thing that is really important is...are they going down now...or are they going down later. A "stable" wide QRS rhythm will become unstable at one point or another...as the heart just can't sustain a rate like that without some adverse effects. Go here and look at the dysrhythmia monitoring. There is lots of stuff about qrs morphology and v tach vs svt with abberancy. http://www.aacn.org/WD/Practice/Content/practicealerts.pcms?menu=Practice

We do...a 10ml syringe to be exact. However, that might be old school as I find our unit does things that aren't exactly based on evidence. But hey, EVP is a transition...you don't get there over night!

I understand that critical care has special staffing circumstances due to the acuity and nurse to patient ratio...but are we the only unit that has this problem??? I love my job and really don't want to work anywhere else...but I love my family more. When I come in and see overtime on the schedule it makes me so angry...and makes me feel so helpless. I have to work...and want to work at a job I love. But my family is number one and I want to spend as little time away from them as possible. So venting aside...is overtime a problem in the unit that you work in?

We actually just had the opposite happen yesterday evening. Finger stick K was 2.8 and venous re-stick to confirm...K was 5.0...so???

Thanks for all the information. I have to sit down and absorb it all...and I'll let you know if I have any other questions.

This is one thing I don't understand about EKG analysis. Most of the nurses I ask in the unit really act as if axis is insignificant and none have been able to explain it to me. I found this little site... http://www.ecglibrary.com/axis.html...and it describes using leads I and aVF to determine axis. But what am I looking for in these leads? Forgive my stupidity and thank you in advance.