When teaching a class of new nursing graduates, the nurse would expect the students to describe atrial fibrillation on an ECG strip as having:
1. No P wave but waves that can be described similar to a picket fence or sawtooth pattern that are regularly spaced between normal QRS waves
2. No consistent P waves, only an erratic and wavy baseline between normally configured QRS waves
3. A progressive deterioration of the wavy baseline with irregular R to R spacing that leads to ventricular tachycardia and a cardiac arrest situation
4. A QRS width greater than 0.12 second and lasting about 30 seconds before ventricular fibrillation occurs
2
Rationale 1: Picket fence or sawtooth patterns are descriptors of atrial flutter, not AF.
Rationale 2: This is a description of atrial fibrillation.
Rationale 3: Ventricular tachycardia is not caused by AF.
Rationale 4: This description is of ventricular tachycardia that leads to ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest due to the decline in cardiac output and the eventual asystole or pulseless electrical arrhythmias that require medical intervention to prevent death.
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