Your Electrical Heart Exploring EKG

Objectives Find and interpret patterns on an EKG graph Describe the electrical and mechanical components of a normal heart rhythm Draw appropriate conclusions about the mechanics of various normal and abnormal heart functions based on EKG

Introduction When have you heard the terms “V- tac”, “V-fib”, “asystole”? What is an EKG or ECG? What do you think a normal graph of the heart’s electrical activity looks like? (draw it) Why do doctors and nurses need EKGs? Depiction of electrical activity in the heart Detect & diagnose problems with the patient’s heart rhythm

Review and new terms Left & right atria: receive blood from the veins, pump it into ventricles Left & right ventricles: receive blood from atria, pump it out into arteries Sinoatrial (SA) node: bundle of nerves in R atrium, the heart’s pacemaker, stims contraction of atria Atrioventricular (AV) node: between atria & ventricles, continues rhythm set by SA node, stims contraction of ventricles Purkinje fibers: fan out and stimulate contraction of ventricles

Review: the cardiac cycle How blood moves through the heart 1.Blood enters atria>>pressure in A rises>>AV valves open 2.Blood enters ventricles>>pressure in V rises>>AV valves close>>semilunar valves open>>blood leaves heart 3.Pressure in V falls>>S/L valves close

To Do and Notice 1.Look at your EKG strip. 2.Determine the patient’s heart rate in BPM if this is a 6 second rhythm strip. 3.Is the rhythm consistent? (describe) 4.How is your strip similar to a normal EKG? How is it different? 5.Based on what you know about the cardiac cycle, try to explain what is going wrong with this heart. 6.Present your patient to the class.

What’s Going On? What terms and conditions do we learn from the EKGs?