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| What does it mean when they say a heart is in "Sinus Rhythm?" |
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it sneezed?  |
it means it is beating between 60 and 100 beats a minute and is using it's normal electrical pathways to do it. To hear it it is lub dub. On an EKG there is a certain pattern you see with each heart beat. First the top part of the heart contracts then the bottom part contracts sending blood circulating through the body.
Yes, I am a nurse, and worked A LONG time in coronary care.
Susan |
It means you can jog past the cardiologists office at top speed with confidence
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It means I am a very happy Cardiac Rehab Nurse because I can browse oes.org instead of staying glued to your monitor while you exercise  |
It also means that the rhythm originated from the "sinus node" an anatomical structure located in the tissue of the right atrium. This is also called the "pacemaker" of the heart as this is the tissue which contains those magical cells which through Sodium and Potassium entering and leaving the cell create a discharge of electrical current which causes the heart to contract.
There are other areas of the heart which can inititate the electrical impulse but they are generally thought to be aberrhent beats which is why a normal rhythm is called a "Sinus" rhythm, meaning it originates and conducts through normal pathways.
Thirteen years in the Cath Lab with my sepcialty being Electrophysiology |
Darcy, I LOVED it! "it sneezed"! too funny.....
My hats off to you Cardiac nurses. I was a L&D nurse for 20 years. I can read a fetal monitor strip with the best of Dr's, but for some reason Cardiac strips intemidated the heck out of me!
Ali |
