Author Question: Several nursing students are discussing cardiac conduction with their clinical instructor. When ... (Read 38 times)

cnetterville · **on:** Jul 23, 2018

Several nursing students are discussing cardiac conduction with their clinical instructor. When asked where a heart rate of 56 beats per minute most likely originates, the most informed student replies:

1. The atrioventricular (AV) node
2. The sinoatrial (SA) node
3. The Purkinje network
4. The bundle of His

Question 2

A client asks the nurse, I was told that my heart is beating in normal sinus rhythm (NSR). What does that mean? The nurse replies most therapeutically when responding with which of the fol-lowing?

1. Are you worried about how your heart is working?
2. It means your heart is working just the way it is supposed to work.
3. A damaged heart doesn't beat in normal sinus rhythm like yours does.
4. Each beat starts in the SA node and then causes the chambers to contract.

zoeyesther · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: 1
The conduction system originates with the sinoatrial (SA) node, the pacemaker of the heart. The SA node is in the right atrium next to the entrance of the superior vena cava. Impulses are initiated at the SA node at an intrinsic rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute. The electrical impulses are transmitted through the atria along intraatrial pathways to the atrioventricular (AV) node. The AV node mediates impulses between the atria and the ventricles. The intrinsic rate of the normal AV node is between 40 and 60 beats per minute. The AV node assists atrial emptying by delaying the impulse before transmitting it through the bundle of His and the ventricular Purkinje network. The intrinsic rate of the bundle of His and the ventricular Purkinje network is between 20 and 40 beats per minute.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: 4
NSR implies that the impulse originates at the SA node and follows the normal sequence through the conduction system.