How to Calculate Ventricular Rate

An ECG, also known as an electrocardiogram, is a useful display of the heart's rhythm which can reveal atrial rate and ventricular rate. It is also useful for determining any arrhythmia or dysfunctions with the heart. With the typical ECG recorded at a rate of 25 mm/sec, it is simple to determine the ventricular rate with a simple calculation. Once you have properly identified the waves in the chart, you can quickly calculate the distance between the waves and ultimately the ventricular rate.

Instructions

• 1

  Identify the "R" waves in the ECG chart. The "R" waves are the tallest crest of each wave. With a normalk heart rate, these "R" waves will occur at regular and rhythmic intervals. If you need help identifying the wave, see the diagram in link below.

• 2

  Count the small squares between the crest of two adjacent "R" waves. The number of squares will be the same between each "R" wave in a regular heart.

• 3

  Divide 1500 by the number of squares you counted between two "R" waves. For example if you counted 25 boxes, the ventricular heart rate would be 1500 divided by 25 or 60 beats per minute.