This is a normal sinus rhythm with atrial bigeminy, a term meaning that every other beat is a PAC.  If you look carefully, you can see slight differences in the sinus P waves and the atrial (premature) P waves.  The PACs penetrate and reset the sinus node, causing what looks like a delay after the PAC.  It is often just a return to the normal P to P interval, or nearly so.  If you teach basic students in a clinical setting, they will learn from palpating the peripheral pulse and feeling the pattern of bigeminal beats. Sometimes, the premature beat feels much weaker due to less filling time available to the ventricles.  Atrial bigeminy can have very benign causes, such as increased caffeine intake, or it can have more complex causes such as advanced heart disease or conduction blocks.  In some patients, atrial bigeminy, or any PACs, can be a precursor to more serious atrial dysrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation.

This is a good basic rhythm strip example of atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response showing the identifying characteristics of atrial fibrillation:  no P waves, an irregularly-irregular rhythm, and a "fibrillatory" baseline.  The wavy baseline will not be seen in all leads in all patients, so it is best to use the first two findings as diagnostic criteria.  Atrial fib often appears initially as a rapid rhythm, as the AV node is being bombarded by many impulses from multiple foci (pacemakers) in the atria.  Depending upon the AV node's ability to transmit these impulses,however, we could see a slow, normal, or rapid ventricular response. 

Atrial fib has very chaotic depolarization of the atrial muscle, resulting in quivering and ineffective pumping of the atria.  This loss of "atrial kick" can severely reduce ventricular filling, and can reduce cardiac output by as much as 25%.  In patients with a very rapid rate, cardiac output can be further reduced, causing CHF.  In addition, the fibrillating atria can form blood clots due to sluggish movement of blood.  These clots can embolize and cause stroke.  For these reasons, patients with atrial fib are anticoagulated and sometimes the atrial fib is stopped by medical, surgical, or electrical therapy.  Recurrence of atrial fib is common after treatment, and for some patients, control of the ventricular rate and anticoagulation become the preferred treatment.

This strip is from a patient who experienced a sudden onset of palpitations and rapid pulse while at rest.  It shows a narrow-complex tachycardia, specifically a paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia.  The subject of supraventricular tachycardias is a fascinating one, and is covered extensively throughout this website.  The mechanisms of SVT are many, and can be complex for the beginning student to understand.  Search the search terms on the left side of the page for entries from ASK the EXPERT and JASON's BLOG for more advanced information about SVT.

For the beginner, it is important to teach the difference between sinus tachycardia and "supraventricular tachycardia".  Of course, sinus tachycardia IS supraventricular - but current convention has us using the term "SVT" for atrial or junctional tachycardias, and especially for reentrant tachycardias.  Beginner students should understand the function of the sinus node, and it's ability to control the heart rate, based on direction given by the nervous system.  The sinus node increases and decreases the rate incrementally, or more gradually than the onset and offset of a reentrant tachycardia.  The appearance of a sudden onset of regular tachycardia following a PAC, producing a rhythm with a distinctly faster rate than the original sinus rhythm, is a sure sign of SVT.  When the onset or offset are caught on the rhythm strip, our job is SO much easier!

The heart rate helps with the diagnosis.  SVTs tend to be faster than sinus tachycardias.  SVTs tend to be faster than 150/min, while sinus rhythms TEND to be slower than 150.  And patients with sinus tachycardia usually have a readily determined reason for the tachycardia, such as fever, pain, fear, hypovolemia, hypoxia, or exertion.  So, a patient on a treadmill for an exercise stress test might very well have a heart rate over 150 / min.

When your students master the understanding of the different behaviors of the sinus node and the reentrant rhythms, and how important patient presentation is to the diagnosis, you will want to add atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation.  When these are mastered, be sure to remind your students that atrial flutter can conduct 2:1, and will mimic sinus tach.  A good rule of thumb is: Under 150/min.:  look for sinus tach first.  Around 150 / min.: look for atrial flutter with 2:1 conduction.  Over 150/min.: suspect PSVT.   

Here is a nice example of sinus tachycardia taken from a 2-year-old in the post-anesthesia care unit after a short GI endoscopic procedure.  Would you call this NSR, since it is from a child?  The pre-op heart rate in this child was 120/min.

For your more advanced students, remind them that, in adults especially, a heart rate close to 150/min. should cause them to examine the ECG in several leads, looking for the presence of atrial flutter with 2:1 conduction.  Another important teaching point, most ADULTS with sinus tach at 150/min. would  manifest an obvious reason for the rapid heart rate (dehydration, pain, anxiety, shock, etc.)  Challenge your basic students to come up with as many causes for sinus tach as they can.