EKG AcquisitionQuestion 54 of 100
A patient's heart rate is so fast that the complexes are crowded together and hard to measure. Which machine adjustment can help, and what must the technician remember?
a.Reduce paper speed to 12.5 mm/sec; intervals will read the same
b.Set standardization to 20 mm/mV; intervals will read the same
c.Reduce paper speed to 10 mm/sec; intervals will double
d.Increase paper speed to 50 mm/sec; each small box now equals 0.02 second and the change must be noted
Explanation
Doubling the paper speed to 50 mm/sec spreads the complexes apart for easier measurement, but each small box then represents 0.02 second instead of 0.04 second, so the change must be documented or intervals will be misread. Slower speeds compress the tracing further. Standardization changes amplitude, not timing, and intervals never simply double without accounting for the new time scale.
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