ECG Basics
This ECG wave represents atrial depolarization.
What is the P wave?
This structure is the heart's natural pacemaker.
What is the SA node?
Heart rate greater than 100 bpm with normal sinus conduction.
What is sinus tachycardia?
This ECG characteristic is absent in AF.
What are distinct P waves?
Medication commonly used to terminate SVT.
What is adenosine?
This interval normally measures 0.12–0.20 seconds.
What is the PR interval?
Normal SA node firing rate.
What is 60–100 beats/min?
Heart rate less than 60 bpm with normal sinus conduction.
What is sinus bradycardia?
AF causes loss of this important contribution to ventricular filling.
What is atrial kick?
Initial nursing intervention for unstable SVT with hypotension.
What is administer oxygen?
This complex represents ventricular depolarization.
What is the QRS complex?
This structure delays impulses before ventricular contraction.
What is the AV node/junction?
This rhythm has no identifiable P waves and an irregularly irregular rhythm.
What is atrial fibrillation?
The major complication of AF that anticoagulants help prevent.
What is thromboembolism/stroke?
Preferred long-term treatment for recurrent SVT.
What is radiofrequency catheter ablation?
To estimate heart rate using a 6-second strip, multiply the number of QRS complexes by this number.
What is 10?
The contraction produced by atrial depolarization is called this.
What is the atrial kick?
This ventricular rhythm is a medical emergency characterized by chaotic electrical activity.
What is ventricular fibrillation?
Two collaborative problems associated with AF.
Embolus formation and heart failure
This device treats life-threatening VT or VF episodes.
What is an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)?
List the 8-step process for ECG rhythm analysis.
Rate, rhythm, P waves, PR interval, QRS duration, ST segment, T wave, QT interval
Trace the electrical conduction pathway through the heart.
SA node → AV node → Bundle of His → Right and Left Bundle Branches → Purkinje fibers
Identify the dysrhythmia most commonly seen in clinical practice.
What is atrial fibrillation?
Why does AF increase the risk for stroke?
Blood pools in the atria due to ineffective contraction, forming clots that may embolize to the brain
Differentiate defibrillation from synchronized cardioversion.
Defibrillation is unsynchronized shock for pulseless VT/VF; synchronized cardioversion delivers a shock synchronized with the R wave