Sole Chapter 8 Dysrhythmia Interpretation & Management
What is the normal rate for the SA node when the patient is at rest?
60 to 100 beats per minute
The nurse is reading the cardiac monitor and notes that the patient's heart rhythm is extremely irregular and there are no discernible P waves. The ventricular rate is 90 beats per minute, and the patient is hemodynamically stable. The nurse realizes that the patient is demonstrating what rhythm?
Atrial fibrillation
The rhythm on the cardiac monitor is showing numerous pacemaker spikes, but no P waves or QRS complexes following the spikes. The nurse realizes this as what?
Failure to capture
The patient has a permanent pacemaker in place with a demand rate set at 60 beats/min. The cardiac monitor is showing a heart rate of 44 beats/min with no pacemaker spikes. How does the nurse interpret this?
Failure to pace
Why is the sinus node identified as the pacemaker of the heart?
It contains the fastest pacemaker cell in the heart
Interpret the following rhythm
NSR
What is one of the functions of the atrioventricular (AV) node?
Slowing the impulse arriving from the SA node
The patient has a permanent pacemaker inserted. The provider has set the pacemaker to the demand mode at a rate of 60 beats per minute. How does the nurse interpret this?
The pacemaker will pace only if the patient's intrinsic heart rate is less than 60 beats per minute.
The patient is asymptomatic but is diagnosed with second-degree heart block Mobitz I. The patient is on digitalis medication at home. The nurse should expect that action to be taken?
A digitalis level would be ordered upon admission.
