A 48-year-old male patient with no known history of cardiovascular disease has presented to the emergency department in atrial flutter. The on-call cardiologist has ordered propafenone PO 150 mg every 8 hours for 24 hours
What is the cardiac care nurse's priority assessment during this period? A) Every 1 hour monitoring of potassium levels
B) Blood pressure monitoring every 10 minutes
C) Echocardiography
D) Continuous ECG monitoring
D
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Propafenone may cause new dysrhythmias or aggravate preexisting dysrhythmias, sometimes causing sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. As a result, continuous ECG monitoring is necessary at the initiation of treatment. This is a priority over serial potassium levels or echocardiography. Blood pressure should ideally be monitored more frequently than every 10 minutes.
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