NURSING UPTO DATE

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Understanding  the 12 Lead ECG! Whether you work within a coronary care unit or a general surgical unit, we have all performed a 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) on one of our patients at some point or another. We’ve prepped the chest of a patient that could rival some of the sheep shearing competitions that occur in New Zealand. We’ve tried untangling the mess of leads while secretly imagining the face of the colleague that left the ECG machine in such disarray on the dart board of our local bar. We’ve all had to deal with that ONE patient who cannot comprehend what it means to “lie still and quietly”. And after all of that effort to get that perfect print out of an ECG, wouldn’t it be nice to understand what those 12 leads are actually telling you?  A picture paints a thousand words, so let’s start with the placement of the leads when performing a 12 lead ECG: When you connect a patient to an ECG machine as per the images above, it generates something that looks like this:

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CELLS, TISSUES, & MEMBRANES Cells, the smallest structures capable of maintaining life and reproducing, compose all living things, from single-celled plants to multibillion-celled animals. The human body, which is made up of numerous cells, begins as a single, newly fertilized cell. Almost all human cells are microscopic in size. To give you an idea how small a cell is, one average-sized adult body, according to one estimate, consists of 100 trillion cells! CELL STRUCTURE Ideas about cell structure have changed considerably over the years. Early biologists saw cells as simple membranous sacs containing fluid and a few floating particles. Today's biologists know that cells are infinitely more complex than this. There are many different types, sizes, and shapes of cells in the body. For descriptive purposes, the concept of a "generalized cell" is introduced. It includes features from all cell types. A cell consists of three parts: the cell membrane,

Directional Terms Directional terms describe the positions of structures relative to other structures or locations in the body. Superior or cranial  - toward the head end of the body; upper (example, the hand is part of the superior extremity). Inferior or caudal  - away from the head; lower (example, the foot is part of the inferior extremity). Anterior or ventral  - front (example, the kneecap is located on the anterior side of the leg). Posterior or dorsal  - back (example, the shoulder blades are located on the posterior side of the body). Medial  - toward the midline of the body (example, the middle toe is located at the medial side of the foot). Lateral  - away from the midline of the body (example, the little toe is located at the lateral side of the foot). Proximal  - toward or nearest the trunk or the point of origin of a part (example, the proximal end of the femur joins with the pelvic bone). Distal  - away from or farthest from the trunk or the point