Webliography
on
Cardiac Dysrhythmias
Cardiac dysrhythmias, also called arrhythmias, are something that are actually common in individuals as they age. Most everyone will experience a moment of dysrhythmia at one moment or another in their lives, most do not sustain the rhythm. A cardiac dysrhythmia is when the normal electrical pattern of the heart is disturbed or disrupted for one reason or another. There are many different dysrhythmias, and each may have different causes.
I have chosen cardiac dysrhythmias because I work in a Surgical ICU, which exposes me to many patients who have dysrhythmias. Often the patient may not know anything about the dysrhythmia they are experiencing because it is a new issue caused by the trauma they have gone through with their surgery. Others have had the dysrhthmia for years, but do not know much about what it is, or why they have it. This can be lead to discussions with the patient and family about what is going on. The truth is they would not know anything was going on if it were not for the telemetry monitors within their views.
In speaking with patients and their families, I realize that the amount of information available can be confusing for those who are trying to learn about dysrhythmias. Here are a few areas that may help in that learning and cut down some on the confusion.
www.healthtools.aarp.org/adamcontent/arrythmias/3
This is a good web site hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons. The site is a good introduction into learning about cardiac dysrhythmias. It is a site that is very easy to navigate, and provides information to give an individual a good basic understanding of dysrhytmias. I thought the site did a good job of stating that the information was for informative purposes only, not to replace any information provided by a health care provider.
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001101.htm
This is another site that is easy to navigate, and gives some good information. The site is provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. This site gives a little more in depth information than the last. This is another site that is good to start with giving good definitions to give an individual a good base of terms. This site adds some good images to help explain some of the information. I found these images to be helpful in understanding the definitions provided.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001101.htm
I found this to be an excellent site at explaining dysrhythmias and electrical patterns of the heart. Again there were some video provided to help explain. There were several links to take an individual to symptoms, treatment, what to expect with dysrhthmias. This site provided much more information, and more detailed information. I did feel that even though this is an informative site, it was a little more difficult to navigate than the others, but still a very good site.
www.youtube.com
I know that youtube is not an expected site to search, but if you type “cardiac dysrhthmia” in the search box it will take you to some very good animations to give visual and audible explanations of dysrhythmias and the electrical conduction of the heart. I am a visual learner, so I found these videos to be very good learning tools. Be careful, stick to the animation videos, there are others available that can lead to links to other videos on other topics.
http://www.ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?topicID=170&marketID=1
In the Cinahl database there are several articles from journals that discuss dysrhythmias. The articles come from reputable journals. One article in particular is Advanced Cardiac Life Support for the New Millennium. This article discusses the different types of dysrhythmias in a little more detail than some of the web sites do. The article also goes into treatment. The database is a good source for an individual looking for information on a specific disrhythmia. This will narrow the search to help find informative articles.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=INFO17&cf=n&type=4&id=172040
Health Reference Center, a database of Gale Cengage learning, is another good source for information. This is another database that has extensive access to professional journals, that have articles to further educate on all aspects of the dysrhythmia you are researching.
The databases are a good place to research specific dysrhythmia, they are so extensive with their information a person needs to narrow down the search to specifics. The information that they provide is excellent, professional and written on a higher level. The web sites reviewed here are informative, and give a good introduction and base of knowledge. These web sites have the capacity to take an individual to more in depth information when wanted. These are good places to learn and expand knowledge on cardiac dysrhythmias.
