Understanding and interpreting electrocardiogram (EKG) rhythms can be confusing and intimidating. This EKG course breaks through the complexity and eliminates the overwhelm. We’ll show you the basics of how electricity flows through the heart and how that translates onto the EKG waveform. We’ll break down the most common heart rhythms you’ll be expected to know and make each one of them easy to understand!
Lessons:20
Cheat Sheets:97
Questions:193
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to discuss the basic physiology of the electrical activity in the heart, explain the basic parts of the EKG waveform and their significance to the electrical activity in the heart. You will be able to interpret the EKG rhythm waveform for sinus rhythms, abnormal atrial rhythms, abnormal ventricular rhythms, and heart blocks with why this is significant to the patient. Finally, you will be able to identify life-threatening EKG waveforms quickly!
In lesson 03.01, Normal Sinus Rhythm, you will be guided through the six steps in rhythm interpretation to identify this type of rhythm which is regular, having a rate between 60 to 100 with other defining characteristics. The six steps include deciding the regularity of the rhythm, the rate, the PQRS ratio, the PR interval, QRS complex with finally solving the rhythm.
In lesson 03.02, Sinus Bradycardia, you will gain a specific understanding of this rhythm which is defined as a normal sinus rhythm with a rate less than 60 with additional information through the six steps of interpretation. You will learn the presentation of this rhythm in your patient, the causes of sinus bradycardia, along with appropriate interventions.
In lesson 03.05, Atrial Fibrillation also known as A-Fib, you will learn that atrial fibrillation results from multiple disorganized cells which produce additional electrical impulses in the atria. You will be able to identify what atrial fibrillation looks like on an EKG waveform including its irregular rhythm, rate greater than 300, wavy baseline, along with other defining characteristics. This lesson also provides the presentation of your patient with atrial fibrillation, nursing interventions, and patient education.
