Dawn's picture

A good example of ventricular fibrillation.  The patient is pulseless, CPR has been performed, and the ED staff is about to defibrillate.  Characteristics of V Fib are:  a chaotic, wavy baseline without clear P waves, QRS complexes, or T waves.  Baseline artifact (baseline going up and down) can be seen with CPR and other movement of the electrodes on the patient's body as resuscitation efforts are underway.  The patient will ALWAYS be unconscious and pulseless in V Fib.  If this rhythm is seen in a patient who is awake or has pulses, it is ARTIFACT - check your electrodes!  

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