What would be an easy way to count the number of cardiac cycles in the a given a strip of an an EKG?

Question

What would be an easy way to count the number of cardiac cycles in the given period of time on a strip of an EKG (e.g. lead II).....

Answer 1

The quickest and simplest way I've seen is as follows (though it's an approximation):

1) Find a QRS complex that falls on or near a bold line (a line of the big square). Mentally label that line "300".
2) Count the number of big squares (N) until you hit the next QRS.

Divide, 300/N and you have the rate!

Answer 2

all of our strips print out with "6 second Marks" at the top of the paper...count the number of QRS complexes that are between two marks and multiply by 10...eg. 8 complexes times 10 = heart rate in the 80's...

Answer 3

Divide 60 by the time from the beginning one P wave to the next P wave. The smallest square is 0.04 seconds in X axis.

Answer 4

http://www.randylarson.com/acls/rate.html#figure3