An EKG Interpretation Primer

Reviewed by Peeranuch LeSeure, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on 7/2/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers all content areas necessary for novice nursing students and nurses. It would be helpful to include a preface. Providing a preface, table of contents, figure numbers and captions as well as references will increase the academic integrity of the book. Although illustrations highlight important pieces of text and make difficult content easier to understand, captions and figure numbers for the images would benefit the readers. The author should also be aware of providing references for information retrieved from copyright resources. For example, the figure on page 31, 12 Lead Electrode Placement, the resource should be provided. This should be done throughout the book to prevent copyright violation. Text or tables should be in the original format, page 50, 53, for example. If copied and pasted, the source of information should be given. Chapter 0 - Anatomy and Physiology of the Heart is a good start. It provides background knowledge to the readers, which prepares the reader for the more complex content. However, the “What is Electricity and Polarization?” section is not necessary and will likely cause confusion. Including the topic “Polarization and Ion Shifts in Cardiac Muscle” is exceptional. Not many books start the content out this way. It helps readers to understand the work of the human heart and why the EKG waves are generated and presented in a certain way. Chapter 1 - EKG Basics and Terminology is extensive. It is an excellent introduction to the content and builds the foundation of understanding. Chapter 2 - Electrical Activity of the Heart and Basic Wave Forms on an EKG provides baseline EKG interpretation. The writing style using questions and answers makes reading more challenging and encourages active reading. Chapter 3 - EKG Machinery and Setup makes the book unique and more useful; not many books provide this information. This chapter prepares the reader to enter the real world. Chapter 4 - Rhythm Interpretation provides an in-depth explanation and highlights problematic details and components found in ECG tests with pictures that illustrate the EKG. Chapter 5 - 12 Leads and Special Rhythms provides clear and precise information about the EKG patterns. The text explanation is straightforward and easy to understand.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate and unbiased —no significant errors in terms of the facts presented in the book. There are minor errors that might confuse the readers, especially visual learners. An example is page 3 where the author uses colored text to illustrate the veins and arteries giving the blue color to both left pulmonary artery and left pulmonary vein, when the blue text should be used for the pulmonary artery (deoxygenated blood), and red should be used for the pulmonary vein (oxygenated blood) receiving blood from the lungs. Thus, the aorta should be described with red color text as well. Similarly, blue should be used for the right ventricle since the right side of the heart receives deoxygenated blood from the body, and red for the left ventricle, “pumping oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body,” as said in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The EKG interpretation is the current understanding; it remains unless there is a discovery that affects existing knowledge. The book was written in a Microsoft Word Document format, which allows editing for improvement if needed.

Clarity rating: 5

A simple and clear writing style makes it easy for the reader to follow the contents, especially for nursing students or nurses whose English is a second language. Using a semi-formal written structure may reduce the academic integrity of the textbook. The author writes as if she is talking to the students (using first-person pronouns) rather than formally providing the content. This language is appropriate if the purpose of the book is an informal pocket guide instead of a textbook. Moreover, using figure numbers and captions when referring to the image of the heart and its blood vessels provides more clarity than terms such as “diagram” (page 61, for example).

Consistency rating: 4

The terminology is consistent. However, the author should be consistent about spelling out the numbers or using a numeric format as well as the format of heading and subheadings. Bullets might be used if needed.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is divided into chapters, and the content is relevant within its chapter. Each chapter is divided into topics and subtopics consistently throughout the book. There is no overlapping content.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The contents and topics are well structured, organized, and logically presented throughout the book. The author presents content that grows in complexity which enhances the flow of the material.

Interface rating: 5

The Microsoft Word format of the book makes it easy to be edited and improved; however, the format of the document could be affected by different versions of the software and operating system. Image appearance is clear; however, the dimension of the image should be appropriate for the page size. Colored images are self-explanatory and easy to understand.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Grammar errors are minor, relatively acceptable for the first draft publication. Some readers might catch it as they are reading through, but the errors did not convey different meanings of the sentences. However, proper punctuation is necessary. Examples of incorrect grammar: Page 2: Both terminology is correct should be “both terms” are correct. Page 7: Cardiac muscle do not have ligand-gated channels should be “Cardiac muscles…”

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book is not offensive or have cultural conflicts.

Reviewed by Veronica Jean, Professor, Delagado on 5/3/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The author covers electrocardiogram interpretation (EKG) in a thorough manner. Basic information is explained from the equipment used to obtain an EKG to the interpretation of cardiac rhythms. The EKG interpretation primer includes information on pre-infarction issues such as Wellens Syndrome and many other EKG rhythm abnormalities that are life-threatening. The definitions/explanations are complete; however, the glossary nor the index exist.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content in the primer is accurate, unbiased, and with no errors found.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up-to-date. Cardiac rhythms are physiological, which make the information less probable to become obsolete. The format used for this document is Microsoft Word and can be edited if there are new cardiac rhythms necessary to include in the text.

Clarity rating: 5

The content is clear and concise. EKG is a complex subject, but the author made the information easy to understand by the learners.

Consistency rating: 4

The terminology is consistent. There are some minor inconsistencies in the framework. There is no table of content when scrolling in the Chrome browser; however, the document outline is found in Google Docs. The chapters are not consistently identified in the outline. The chapters are labeled as Chapter 0, then Chapter 2, Chapters one, three, four, and five are not identified in the document outline.

Modularity rating: 5

The content can be presented in modules by chapters. The information would be best taught in a specific order for the purpose of clarity in the study of cardiac physiology. This primer can be reorganized in some subtopics, but not all. The foundation must be taught prior to the activity of interpreting the EKG rhythm.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The EKG primer has good structure with the exception of the inconsistency in the document outline and the index omission.

Interface rating: 5

There are no distractions or interfacing issues. The document is easy to scroll through. The diagrams and tables are also easy to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book has no culturally offensive content found.

Comments

The book did not cite any references.