premature ventricular contraction
- wide, bizarre QRS complexes in the absence of P waves, usually followed by a fully-compensated pause
-commonly seen in early digoxin toxicity
normal sinus rhythm
sinus bradycardia
sinus tachycardia
sinus dysrhythmia
sinus arrest
Mobitz type I second-degree AV block
-the PR interval is growing increasingly prolonged before each QRS, then a P-wave occurs with no QRS present
-usually resolves by itself
atrial flutter
saw tooth" pattern
types of atrial tachycardias
sinus tachycardia
atrial fibrillation
atrial flutter
Causes of atrial tachycardias
-excess alcohol consumption
-stress or extreme emotions
-caffeine ingestion
-hyperthyroidism
-digitalis toxicity
-hypokalemia
-coronary artery disease
-myocardial infaction (MI)
-cardiomyopathy
-cor pulmonale (right ventricular enlargement due to a pulmon
Torsades de Pointes
-type of ventricular tachycardia
-characterized by an irregular change in amplitude of QRS complexes that appear to twist around the ECG baseline
-administer magnesium sulfate as Torsades is often caused by hypomagnesia
Third-degree AV heart block
-regular P waves and regular QRS complexes; however, they have no relationship to each other and "march out" separately
-almost always require a pacemaker to prevent compromise or death from severely decreased cardiac output
Normal PR interval
0.2 seconds or less
Mobitz type II second-degree AV block
regular PR interval with a QRS wave missing every third beat
EKG finding indicating tissue ischemia
inverted or depressed T wave
Hyperkamia EKG changes
peaked t waves
Atrial Fibrillation
Ventricular Tachycardia
-common causes are hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, and hyperkalemia
-Wide QRS waveforms, with the absence of P waves, accompanied by an elevated rate at 100
MI EKG Changes
-ST-elevation
-pathological Q-wave
-and T-wave inversion
Calculate HR on EKG
-Multiply the number of QRS complexes by six
-Count number of p waves for atrial rate
-Count number of QRS complexes for ventricular weight