ECG Ventricular Rhythms

By behereaxum

Summary

Ventricular rhythms start below the AV node. Learn to spot five patterns fast.

Chapters

  1. Ventricular rhythms start below the AV (0s)
  2. A PVC fires early: a wide, (5s)
  3. Three or more together is ventricular (15s)
  4. Ventricular fibrillation is chaotic and disorganized. (26s)
  5. Torsades de pointes twists around the (34s)
  6. Idioventricular rhythm is slow and wide, (43s)
  7. Recognize the width, the rate, and (52s)

Transcript

Ventricular rhythms start below the AV node. Learn to spot five patterns fast. A PVC fires early: a wide, bizarre QRS with no preceding P wave, followed by a compensatory pause. It signals an irritable ventricular focus. Three or more together is ventricular tachycardia, regular wide complexes racing at one hundred to two hundred fifty beats. Sustained VT can drop blood pressure fast. Ventricular fibrillation is chaotic and disorganized. No true QRS, no pulse. Start CPR and defibrillate immediately. Torsades de pointes twists around the baseline. This polymorphic VT follows a prolonged QT. Treat with magnesium. Idioventricular rhythm is slow and wide, twenty to forty beats, an escape pacemaker keeping the ventricles alive when higher pacemakers fail. Recognize the width, the rate, and the pattern, and you'll read every strip with confidence.