Key result
Simple five-step method helps emergency nurses evaluate cardiac rhythms and interpret common ECGs.
This article provides a five-step method to help emergency nurses interpret ECG rhythms and support earlier diagnosis.
May aid emergency nurses in ECG interpretation; leaves open prospective validation of clinical impact.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most commonly performed investigations in emergency departments (EDs), and is an extremely useful adjunct that guides diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. In most cases nurses are the first healthcare professional to assess patients and record an ECG, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that few emergency nurses review, interpret and act on ECG findings. Research suggests this may be due to lack of confidence in, or knowledge about, interpretation of results, often because of inadequate training. This article aims to help emergency nurses understand and interpret the cardiac rhythms commonly encountered on ECGs in EDs, to enable them to support earlier diagnosis and treatment. It describes a simple, five-step method for evaluating the main components of cardiac rhythm.
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McGrath et al. (2018) conducted a review in Cardiac rhythm interpretation. Five-step method for evaluating cardiac rhythm was evaluated. This article describes a simple, five-step method to help emergency nurses evaluate the main components of cardiac rhythm and interpret commonly encountered ECGs.
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