Thoracic Key

Question 1 You are walking past the nurse’s station on a medical unit because there is a bathroom down the hall you want to use. All at once, a nurse…

Mobitz type I second degree AV block (Wenchebach) Mobitz type II second degree AV block Complete (third degree) heart block DESCRIPTION We’re going to focus on when a P wave…

Atrial flutter with variable AV block Saw (we can’t assume anything) Sawteeth (from a real saw) DESCRIPTION This is a supraventricular arrhythmia where there’s an actual circuit usually up in…

Sustained VT (call a code and worry about kaopectate later!) DESCRIPTION Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a wide complex tachycardia, with the rate over 100. The beats are not preceded by…

Uh-oh! Forgot to measure the QT interval! DESCRIPTION The QT interval is the distance from the start of the QRS to the end of the T wave, and is best…

Normal sinus rhythm, atrial sensed and ventricular paced Atrioventricular (AV) paced rhythm DESCRIPTION Although technically not an arrhythmia, it is probably worthwhile learning to recognize when a pacemaker is present,…

Rapid supraventricular tachycardia DESCRIPTION A narrow complex rhythm which is fast, usually over 160 and sometimes even over 200 beats per minute. Generally P waves are buried in T waves…

Premature atrial complex Blocked premature atrial complex (PAC) (again!) DESCRIPTION The first part of this is easy: if the beat is early it’s premature! The harder part (there always is…

DESCRIPTION You will see no rhythm at all – just a flat line. Actually, real asystole is almost never a perfect flat line: there is usually some baseline wander from…

Junctional rhythm with AV dissociation DESCRIPTION A junctional, or “nodal” rhythm (more confusing, redundant terminology) arises in the atrioventricular (AV) junction (or node, as you guessed) instead of in the…