An ECG has been ordered for a newly admitted client. What should the nurse do prior to electrode placement?

• Clean the skin with providone–iodine solution.

• Ensure that the area for electrode placement is dry.

• Apply tincture of benzoin to the electrode sites and wait for it to become “tacky.”

• Gently abrade the skin by rubbing the electrode sites with dry gauze or cloth.

A group of nurses is participating in orientation to a telemetry unit. The nurse who is providing the education should tell the class that ST segments:

• are the part of an ECG that reflects systole

• are the part of an ECG used to calculate ventricular rate and rhythm.

• are the part of an ECG that reflects the time from ventricular depolarization through repolarization.

• represent early ventricular repolarization.

The nurse is caring for a client on telemetry. The client’s ECG shows atrial fibrillation, wide QRS and a fast, irregular ventricular rhythm. What does this ECG show?

• Sinus bradycardia

• Myocardial infarction

• Lupus-like syndrome

• Wolff–Parkinson–White (WPW) syndrome

A healthy adult client is seeing a health care provider for an annual physical examination. While the nurse is taking the client's vital signs, the client states, “Occasionally, my heart skips a beat. Is this normal?” What is the nurse's best response?

• Atrial flutter

• Sinus tachycardia

• Premature atrial complex

• Ventricular fibrillation

A client has had a 12-lead ECG completed as part of an annual physical examination. The nurse notes an abnormal Q wave on an otherwise unremarkable ECG. The nurse recognizes that this finding indicates

• an evolving MI.

• an old MI.

• variant angina.

• a cardiac dysrhythmia.

An adult client with third-degree AV block is admitted to the cardiac care unit and placed on continuous cardiac monitoring. What rhythm characteristic will the ECG most likely show?

• PP interval and RR interval are irregular.

• PP interval is equal to RR interva

• Fewer QRS complexes than P waves

• PR interval is constant

A nurse reviews the results of an electrocardiogram (ECG) for a patient who is being assessed for hypokalemia. Which of the following would the nurse notice as the most significant diagnostic indicator?

• Widened QRS wave

• Flat P wave

• Elevated U wave

• Peaked T wave

The nurse observes an electrocardiogram (ECG) tracing on a cardiac monitor with a pattern in lead II as well as a bizarre, abnormal shape to the QRS complex. The nurse has likely observed which ventricular dysrhythmia?

• Ventricular bigeminy

• Ventricular tachycardia

• Premature ventricular contraction (PVC)

• entricular fibrillation

The nurse is auscultating the heart sounds of a patient with mitral stenosis. The pulse rhythm is weak and irregular. What rhythm does the nurse expect to see on the electrocardiogram (ECG)?

• Ventricular tachycardia

• Atrial fibrillation

• Sinus dysrhythmia

• First-degree atrioventricular block

A client has a heart rate greater than 155 beats/minute and the ECG shows a regular rhythm with a rate of 162 beats/minute. The client is intermittently alert and reports chest pain. P waves cannot be identified. What condition would the nurse expect the physician to diagnose?

• sinus tachycardia

• atrial flutter

• supraventricular tachycardia

• heart block