Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Pacemaker wires are embedded in plastic catheters. The terminal electrodes, which may be unipolar or bipolar, travel from the generator unit to the heart via the venous system.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Pacemakers are classified according to a standard five-letter code. The fourth letter refers to the pacemaker's rate modulation and programmability, and the fifth describes the pacemaker's ability to provide an anti-tachycardia function.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Pacemakers are classified according to a standard five-letter code. The first letter designates the chamber that receives the pacing current, the second, the sensing chamber, and the third, the pacemaker's response to sensing.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
In essence, a pacemaker consists of an electrical pulse–generating device and a lead system that senses intrinsic cardiac signals and then delivers a pulse. The pulse generator is hermetically sealed with a lithium-based battery device.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Patients with pulseless VT should be initially shocked with 200 J, followed by 300 J if the first shock is not successful. Reentrant SVTs generally respond to low energy levels. Atrial flutter, for example, usually requires less than 50 J for conversion.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Cardioversion with 10 to 20 J is successful in converting ventricular tachycardia in more than 80% of cases. Cardioversion will be accomplished with 50 J in 90% of cases, and conversion should initially be attempted at this energy level.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The amount of energy required for cardioversion varies with the type of dysrhythmia, the degree of metabolic derangement and the configuration and thickness of the chest wall.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Cardioversion may be extremely painful or terrifying, and patients must be adequately sedated before its use. Patients who are not adequately sedated may experience extreme anxiety and fear.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Cardioversion is a direct current “shock” across the chest or directly across the ventricle to normalize the conduction pattern of a rapidly beating heart. This shock is delivered during the absolute refractory period of the ECG QRS.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The most common terminal rhythms reported in children younger than 17 years are PEA, bradycardia and asystole. The etiology of these pediatric arrhythmias is most often hypoxemia, hypotension, hypoglycemia and acidemia.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is much less common in children than in adults. The etiology of VF and sudden cardiac death in children is most likely to be sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory compromise, sepsis and neurologic disease.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Cardiac arrest in infants and children should initially be considered to be secondary to respiratory arrest. Sudden cardiac death, ventricular fibrillation, and pulseless ventricular tachycardia are much less likely to occur in children than in adults.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Complications of defibrillation include soft tissue injury, myocardial injury and cardiac dysrhythmias. The availability of multifunctional electrode pads has decreased the potential for soft tissue injuries such as chest burns.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
When encountering a patient who is unresponsive and has been down for an unknown time, assess the patient, summon help and initiate CPR immediately if indicated. Perform CPR until the defibrillator or AED is brought to the patient's side.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Once an advanced airway is in, the compression and ventilation cycles are no longer delivered 30:2. Now, the compressor will continue to deliver compressions continuously at a rate higher than 100 compressions/min, without pausing.