The purpose of the EKG lab was for us to see how our heartbeats were monitored. We learned about heart attacks, heartbeats, and other heart related topics.
The procedure of the lab was simple. We hooked up one person; in this case it was me, to an EKG sensor. Using sticky strips, we attached three electrodes to my arms. Two near the inside of my wrist, one near the inside of my elbow. My group then set up the sensor to the computer so we could get an actual reading of my results. I had to sit still and breathe normally. After a few seconds, a line graph showed up of my heartbeat. Good news, no heart attacks for me!
The data my group found was the amount of time before each peak or crevice in my heartbeat. “P” is an atrial contraction and it looks just like a little hump. The atrial contraction comes just before the “QRS” which is a rentricular contraction. It looks just like a mountain going up, and then going back down double what it went up, and then met back at the middle. The “T” is a ventricle repolarization, it looks like a plateau.
We observed that my heartbeat was normal and healthy. My P wave was healthy and good. My QRS interval was the correct shape, and my T wave was the perfect size.
This is my normal heart beat.
To switch things up, my group swapped two of the electrodes on my arms. By doing this, it caused me to have a “heart attack”. On the screen, my heart was going crazy, but in real life, I was fine.