Course Information

Course Description:

This course is aimed at nurses and other healthcare professionals who care for patients with cardiac disease and must be able to interpret EKG strips in a variety of settings ranging from emergent situations to routine dysrhythmia analysis.

Course Objectives:

  1. Review basic cardiac anatomy and physiology as it relates to the electrocardiography.
  2. Demonstrate dysrhythmia analysis techniques and waveforms;
  3. Identify and classify common dysrhythmia waveforms: sinus, atrial, junctional, blocks, and ventricular;
  4. Relate the cardiovascular anatomical and/or physiological changes related to various dysrhythmias; and
  5. Describe the appropriate treatment for specific dysrhythmias.
Prerequisites and Corequisites:
Healthcare Professional background
Course Topics:

Basic EKG Theory

  • Introduction to the Electrocardiogram equipment
  • Normal cardiac EKG waveforms of the cardiac cycle
  • Abnormal waveforms
  • Calculating heart rates
  • Defining normal and abnormal heart rates by pacemaker sites
  • Calculating flow of electrical current through the cardiac tissue
  • Defining normal and abnormal waveforms based upon changes in cardiac tissue

•  Sinus Rhythms

  • Pre-test
  • Definition of all rhythms in the category
  • Identifying characteristics of waveforms and rates
  • Potential causes of specific rhythms
  • Potential treatments based upon ACLS protocols if applicable
  • Post-test

•  Atrial Rhythms – components similar to Sinus Rhythms

•  Junctional Rhythms – components similar to Sinus Rhythms

•  Blocks – components similar to Sinus Rhythms

•  Ventricular Rhythms – components similar to Sinus Rhythms

•  Case Studies – this module will provide the student with an opportunity to further refine their EKG analysis techniques based upon a clinical situation. Case studies will be grouped based upon category (Sinus, Atrial, etc.) and available in a mixed category for a more challenging application of the content.

Specific Course Requirements:
None
Textbooks, Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software Requirements
Required Textbooks:
 None
Supplementary Materials:
None
Hardware Requirements:
The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.tn.regentsdegrees.org/students/hardware_software.htm.
Software Requirements:
The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.tn.regentsdegrees.org/students/hardware_software.htm. Specific software requirements for this course include Acrobat Reader which is a free download from Adobe.
Instructor Information
Please see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact information as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other communication information.
Assessment and Grading
Testing Procedures:
A final quiz is required to validate mastery of the content. This quiz is accessible at any time within the course.
Grading Procedure:
A score of 80 or greater is required to successfully complete this continuing education course.
Grading Scale:
80-100 ---S
79 and below ---U
Guidelines for Communications

Email: Should you need assistance, you have two options for assisance: content and technical.

Content Questions should be addressed to: ptaylor@mtsu.edu

Technical Questions should be addressed to: mailto:rodptech@tbr.edu

  • Always include a subject line.
  • Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way. Be careful in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some cases.
  • Use standard fonts.
  • Do not send large attachments without permission.
  • Special formatting such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.

Students With Disabilities

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the left to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Technical Support

Telephone Support:
If you are having problems logging into your course,
timing out of your course, using your course web site tools, or other technical problems, please contact the Eduprise Help Desk by calling

1-866-550-7637 (toll free)

or go to their website at:

http://askrodp.custhelp.com