MED-SURG: chapter 25

"Depolarization is the electrical stimulation of the heart muscles." - New nurses on the telemetry unit have been paired with preceptors. One new nurse asks her preceptor to explain depolarization. What would be the best answer by the preceptor? "The difference is the timing of the delivery of the electric current." - During a CPR class, a participant asks about the difference between cardioversion and defibrillation. What would be the instructor's best response? "The whole team will be monitoring you very closely for the entire procedure." - The nurse is providing care to a patient who has just undergone an electrophysiologic (EP) study. The patient states that she is nervous about "things going wrong" during the procedure. What is the nurse's best response? "To detect and treat dysrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia" - A patient who is a candidate for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) asks the nurse about the purpose of this device. What would be the nurse's best response? Administer atropine 0.5 mg as an IV bolus every 3 to 5 minutes to a maximum of 3.0 mg. - A patient is brought to the ED and determined to be experiencing symptomatic sinus bradycardia. The nurse caring for this patient is aware the medication of choice for treatment of this dysrhythmia is the administration of atropine. What guidelines will the nurse follow when administering atropine? Ans: 46 mm Hg - The nurse is calculating a cardiac patient's pulse pressure. If the patient's blood pressure is 122/76 mm Hg, what is the patient's pulse pressure?