NURS 3104 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Sinus Rhythm, Coronary Artery Disease, Sinoatrial Node
16 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Pvc is an impulse that starts in a ventricle and is conducted through the ventricles before the next normal sinus impulse. Pvcs can occur in healthy people, especially with the use of caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. They are also caused by cardiac ischemia or infarction, increased workload on the heart (e. g. , exercise, fever, hypervolemia, heart failure, tachycardia); digitalis toxicity; hypoxia; acidosis; or electrolyte imbalances, especially hypokalemia. In the absence of disease, pvcs are not serious. In the patient with an acute mi, pvcs may indicate the need for more aggressive therapy. Trigeminy is a rhythm in which every third complex is a pvc, and is a rhythm in which every fourth complex is a pvc. Pvcs have the following characteristics on the ecg : Ventricular and atrial rate: depends on the underlying rhythm (e. g. , sinus rhythm) Ventricular and atrial rhythm: irregular due to early qrs, creating one rr interval that is shorter than the others.
