Ventricular Rhythms

Ventricular Fibrillation - Ventricular Rhythm.

Description

The morphologic features are different with this dysrhythmia. No P wave and no QRS complexes. This rhythm presents with a chaotic waveform which reflects the electrical chaos occurring within the heart.
The heart is not actually beating as we know it. The chaos occurs as a result of small regions of tissue which are independently depolarizing.
This rapid disorganized electrical activity actually makes the heart appear to quiver in response to this activity. Some have described it as shaking like Jello.
Fibrillatory waves may be coarse or very fine. This is based upon their size. The longer V Fib occurs, the smaller the waveforms are likely to be.
(Description continues on next slide)

Coarse V Fib is when a majority of the waveforms measure 3 mm or greater
Fine V Fib is when a majority of the waveforms measure less than 3 mm
This is absolutely a life-threatening dysrhythmia which requires, immediate, effective, and aggressive care.
(Follow your local reporting and treatment protocols)
If your patient is talking to you when you see this on the monitor, then your patient is not in V Fib. Always, check your patient first, but there will likely be a loose or disconnected lead wire or electrode.

Analyze this tracing using the five steps of rhythm analysis.

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