The lovely adenosine heart pause. I did this just the other day. Rates of 160 and then Bam
Not any more.
Updated April 8th, 2010:
Here's my own adenosine heart pause tonight.
Nurse: Dr Happy, the patient's heart just sped up into the 170's.Happy: Get an EKG.....five minutes passes. That looks like SVT. Lets get 12 mg of adenosine please.
Nurse: Teaching nursing student about adenosine while she pushes it. Tells patient, "You're going to feel funny". Pushes adenosinePatient: Takes gasping breath of death.Happy at the Nurses Station: That's got to be the longest 10 seconds of his life.
That's 49 big boxes on the telemetry strip without a QRS complex. At 0.2 milliseconds per big box, that's just under ten seconds without ventricular contraction. This adenosine heart pause has got to be the longest 10 seconds of his life. But it worked. You've got to have balls of steel and a faith in cardiac conduction physiology to wait that out.
That's what a hospitalist does on their night shift. If you want the Bible on rapidly learning EKGs, I suggest you purchase Dale Dubin's Rapid Interpretation of EKGs
That's what a hospitalist does on their night shift. If you want the Bible on rapidly learning EKGs, I suggest you purchase Dale Dubin's Rapid Interpretation of EKGs
