Atrial Fibrillation Paper

There is a variety tests that can be performed to detect an atrial fibrillation a doctor’s exam, an electrocardiogram (EKG), a stress test, and an echocardiogram (echo). A doctor can detect an AFib when checking your vital signs. Due to the fact that part of checking the vital sign is getting a pulse which means getting an apical pulse and all of the other peripheral pulse. Since AFib is an arrhythmia the pulse will be higher and the doctor might hear a non-functional sound in the heart as oppose to a functional one. A normal pulse range is between 60-100 beats per minutes, a patient with AFib will have pulse that are significantly higher than 100 beats per minute. When the doctor notice this the doctor will then give patient a referral to
While the electrodes are gathering the pattern of the signals form the heart there is a monitor screen that is there to show the pattern. There is a specific pattern that the electrical signals it should follow. There should be a small bump at the beginning of the pattern this bump is called a P wave. A P wave means that it is the atria are contracting. The next part of the electrocardiogram is the QRS, in the QR the ventricles are contracting while the atria are relaxing and in RS the ventricles. So the QR wave goes up and the RS wave goes down then there is a T wave which just simply show that the ventricles are repolarizing. If the person has atrial fibrillation the electrocardiogram will show no P wave is shown its just squiggly lines. The distances between the waves are irregular and show little to no relaxation of the ventricles. The next test that can be done is a stress test. During stress test the patient is hooked up to an electrocardiogram and is on a treadmill or a stationary bike. The objective of this test is to how much stress the heart can take and to see the different rhythm pattern during the