Monitoring and treating life-threatening ventricular dysrhythmias

Dealing with cardiac emergencies resulting from the development of life-threatening dysrhythmias always presents some degree of stress to the practitioner, regardless of the amount of experience and exposure to cardiac arrests. Dealing effectively with these emergencies is threefold. First is prevention of the event. The astute practitioner utilizes knowledge of precipitating factors, data collection, assessment, and intervention to prevent a patient's condition from advancing to an emergency situation. Second, one must be prepared to deal with the emergency, by having a plan of action and knowing what to expect. Finally, one must deal with the emergency as effectively as possible, and then evaluate what has occurred, how the emergency was handled, and what actions would have improved the experience.