Dysrhythmia Nursing Information

Critical care nurses help diagnose, treat and manage patients with dysrythmia to avoid potentially life-threatening situations. They are registered nurses who participate in intensive training specifically focused on heart disease diagnosis and treatment and are a critical part of the cardiac care team. Doctors rely on critical care nurses to conduct heart monitoring evaluations to aid in diagnosis and treatment, and they must be experts in their chosen professional field.

Description

• Dysrhythmia, also known as arrhythmia, describes a heart condition when the heart beats too fast or too slow and functions less effectively. It is an electrical problem with the heart that can be life-threatening or harmless, but only a qualified medical professional can diagnose the severity of the condition and the associated risks. ECGs are often conducted by nurses and are one of the most common tests used to diagnose dysrhythmia.

Monitoring

• Nurses must choose the best ECG monitoring leads for dysrhythmia evaluation and properly prepare the patient's skin before attaching ECG electrodes. When the nurse properly prepares skin before attaching leads, she will avoid false or inappropriate monitoring alarms. Nurses who carefully prepare the patient's skin can avoid misdiagnosis and obtain a more efficient and expedient diagnosis.

Quality Standards

• Nurses must ensure that clinical facilities have cardiac quality monitoring policies and procedures that properly educate staff on diagnosis and treatment strategies. Training and policies should include proper techniques for skin preparation, electrode placement and lead selection. These policies should be readily available for all nursing and other staff involved with cardiac monitoring, diagnosis and patient care.

Interference

• Nurses must be aware that cell phones can cause inappropriate readings and interfere with heart monitoring results. Nurses and other medical team assistants should turn off all personal electronic devices when conducting heart monitoring.

Positioning

• Nurses should conduct heart monitoring when patients are lying down and calm when possible since the position can impact testing. Inform the physician or interpreting technician if the patient was not lying down during the monitoring process so they can make the most accurate evaluation of test results.

EKG Skills

• Critical care nurses should maintain ECG and EKG skills and continually update skills based on the newest technology. Nurses must be able to distinguish between specific arrhythmias including heart block, tachyarrhythmias and aberrant conduction. Nurses distinguish between the different types of arrhythmias with skill, knowledge and experience.