2006-07-04 15:28:18 · 9 answers · asked by merhamah a 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
Get “Rapid Interpretation of EKG's.” It has been around forever and probably in almost every ICUs. Amazon sells it.
While it will take you through the basics of heart anatomy you really need to know this well so understand fully how the “mechanics” of the heart work.
This book will go into the “conduction” of the heart. The electrical conduction of the heart only identifies the locations within the heart where things are occurring abnormally (and normally). From there you need to know the mechanics of the heart to understand the importance.
If you study the above “paperback” from front to back and you understand the anatomy of the heart well then you are right up there in understanding next to family physicians.
However, to get to the level of specialists such as and anesthesiologists, ER specialists (not residents or interns), you will need to study further.
To get to the level of a Cardiologists you will need to increase your efforts 10 fold.
You will never be at the level to diagnose and treat a heart condition of even your family physician unless you go to med school. Experience is the key to a successful outcome, especially in emergencies.
The EKG (just looking at the conduction of the heart) is just a small part of the overall knowledge and there are various other devices looking at conduction besides the simple EKG.
If you “really” study the book above and know it by heart (to coin a phrase) it will take you a couple of years including reading various ECGs with help from those more experienced. You will never be able to second guess a cardiologists
Completely ignore anyone that considers a “flat line” or baseline as important. That is for TV only. When you get into trouble your heart goes nuts with electrical conduction. A patient never goes from a normal heart rhythm into a baseline. In fact it is entirely opposite… their heart gives off a tremendous amount of voltage… it is closer to the behavior of a lie detector when a lie is being told than what TV wants to portray it as simply going to a flat line.
Put your hand into a swimming pool and make a squirt gun out of it. By contracting it the right way you cause water flow. The better you coordinate the squeeze the better the water will squirt through. The heart is a muscle doing the same thing as the muscle in your hand. If your hand quivers or cramps it will not be as efficient. The voltage from your hand muscle can be measured on your skin just like the voltage of your heart.
If you could see your heart like you can see your hand you would know how it was working wrong to pump fluid. Since you can’t you look at the voltage.
EKGs are all about “timing” and measuring the timing of certain events. The general public doesn’t have the slightest clue watching an EKG since there is so much muscle/motion artifact that occur from time to time. The experienced completely overlooks artifact. Imagine listening to two people speaking at the same time with similar voices. To understand you need to focus in on one person and ignore the other.
2006-07-04 15:43:09 · answer #1 · answered by JustThinking 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
EKG paper is a grid where time is measured along the horizontal axis.
Each small square is 1 mm in length and represents 0.04 seconds.
Each larger square is 5 mm in length and represents 0.2 seconds.
Voltage is measured along the vertical axis.
10 mm is equal to 1mV in voltage.
The diagram below illustrates the configuration of EKG graph paper and where to measure the components of the EKG wave form
http://www.rnceus.com/ekg/tracer.gif
Heart rate can be easily calculated from the EKG strip:
When the rhythm is regular, the heart rate is 300 divided by the number of large squares between the QRS complexes.
For example, if there are 4 large squares between regular QRS complexes, the heart rate is 75 (300/4=75).
The second method can be used with an irregular rhythm to estimate the rate. Count the number of R waves in a 6 second strip and multiply by 10.
For example, if there are 7 R waves in a 6 second strip, the heart rate is 70 (7x10=70).
2006-07-04 22:30:16 · answer #2 · answered by sarah 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The various spikes, and lengths between the spikes on the EKG mean different things, it's pretty complicated- because we would have to give a pathophysilogical lesson to go with this. Is there something in particular on the EKG strip that is standing out to you, that you want clarified? Or, are you taking an EKG class and you need the clep notes?
2006-07-04 22:35:02 · answer #3 · answered by mischa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the time being just concentrate on pronouncing it. It sounds as
"Eee-See-Jee" and is an abbreviation for "Electrocardiogram or graph".
Rest, leave it to the Doctors, they can interpret and read out the strip results for you.
2006-07-05 05:49:13 · answer #4 · answered by Saadi 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that along story
you can't do that in this forum by some small answers we give you
there are some good books you can read if you have a Little medical education
2006-07-05 12:34:59 · answer #5 · answered by qwq 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's very complicated. If you aren't a doc or medical student, ask a doctor is a better way.
2006-07-05 02:45:58 · answer #6 · answered by BoRN 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's kinda complicated *see above*
Basically, as long as it looks like some random spikes or it's not flat, don't sweat it.
2006-07-04 22:30:17 · answer #7 · answered by crage_ralius 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe try here for some information:
http://www.hrspatients.org/patients/heart_tests/default.asp
2006-07-04 22:36:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
become a doctor LOL
2006-07-04 22:31:00 · answer #9 · answered by Steven 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋