Research Paper on Elctrocardiogram (Ecg)

Introduction The major function of the heart is to force blood in to a closed system of blood vessels within which the blood is confines and circulated to the entire body. Heart’s activity can be compared to a muscular pump equipped with one way valves. With each heartbeat, an electrical impulse travels through the heart and causes the heart muscle to squeeze and pump blood from the heart. These electrical impulses, transmitted through the heart, are spread throughout the body. This electrical activity of the heart can be detected on the body’s surface and recorded with an instrument called an electrocardiograph.A graphic record of heart activity is called an electrocardiogram. An electrocardiogram is also called an EKG or ECG. Sometimes the test is called a 12-lead EKG or 12-lead ECG. This is because the heart's electrical activity most often is recorded from 12 different places on the body at the same time. A healthcare provider may recommend an electrocardiogram if a person has signs and symptoms that suggest a heart problem (National Institutes of Health, 2010). Examples of signs and symptoms may include chest pain, breathing problems, unusual heart sounds, palpitation etc.However, this test can screen for early heart disease that has no symptoms. An ECG may be done as part of a routine health exam and may be used for routine screening before major surgery. Also, this test can be ordered to check how well heart medicine or a medical device, such as a pacemaker, is working (National Institutes of Health, 2010). ECG results can be used by the healthcare provider to help plan treatment for a heart condition. Different types of electrocardiograms Many heart problems are present all the time, and thus a commonly used 12-lead ECG test is sufficient to detect any of these problems.However, certain issues, such as those related to irregular heartbeats, can come and go. They may be present for only a few minutes out of the day, or while performing spec ific daily activities (e. g. , exercising). In these situations, special types of ECGs are used to help diagnose these types of problems. The different ECGs that can be used in these situations are: †¢Stress test: During stress testing, exercise or medications are used to make heart beat faster and work harder while conducting the ECG. †¢Holter monitor: This is a portable device that records the electrical signals of he heart for a full 24 to 48 hour period (Pagana & Pagana, 2010). This is also called as an ambulatory ECG, as daily activities can be performed while wearing it. †¢Event monitor: This is a portable device like holter monitors, but they can be worn for more than a month and are used to detect abnormalities of short duration and that occur infrequently. This paper discusses 12-lead ECG that is most commonly used in health care settings. Explanation of ECG test and related physiology A typical ECG has three distinguishable waves or deflections.The relations hip between the deflections waves of an ECG and sequential excitation of the heart is shown below (The Biology corner, 2011) Figure1. The sequence of excitation of the heart related to deflection waves of an ECG tracing. The first wave, the small P wave, lasts about 0. 08 s (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010). This wave results from movement of the depolarization wave from the heart’s SA node through atria. The second wave, the QRS complex is the largest waves of all the three waves. It results from ventricular depolarization and precedes ventricular contraction.Average duration of the QRS complex is 0. 08 s (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010). A prolonged QRS complex may indicate a right or left bundle branch block in which one ventricle is contracting later than the other. The third wave, the T wave is caused by ventricular depolarization and typically lasts about 0. 16 s (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010). The P-R interval represents the time between the beginning of atrial depolarization and ventricu lar depolarization and it lasts about 0. 16 to 0. 18 s. A longer interval may suggest a partial AV heart block caused by damage to the AV node (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010).Lack of impulses through AV node may indicate a total heart block. The Q-T interval is the period from the beginning of ventricular depolarization and repolarization that normally lasts 0. 31 to 0. 41 s (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010). The shorter Q-T interval may indicate tachycardia, and a longer may indicate bradycardia. Normal/abnormal findings In a healthy heart, the size, duration and timing of the deflection waves tend to be consistent. For this reason, changes in the pattern or timing of the ECG may reveal a diseased or damaged heart or problems with the heart’s onduction system (Marieb & Mitchell, 2010). An ECG gives two major kinds of information. First, by measuring time intervals on the ECG, a doctor can determine how long the electrical wave takes to pass through the heart (Pagana & Pagana, 2010). Findi ng out how long the wave takes to travel from one part of the heart to the next shows if the electrical activity is normal or slow, fast or irregular. Second, by measuring the amount of electrical activity passing through the heart muscle, a cardiologist may be able to find out if parts of the heart are too large or are overworked (Pagana & Pagana, 2010).Normal ECG values include a heart rate of 60 to100 beats /min and an even and consistent heart rhythm (National Institutes Of Health, 2010). Abnormal ECG results may indicate a sign of following health issues: †¢Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) †¢Cardiac muscle defect †¢Congenital heart defect †¢Faster than normal heart rate (tachycardia) †¢Slower than normal heart rate (bradycardia) †¢Heart valve disease †¢Inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) †¢Changes in the amount of electrolytes (chemicals in the blood) †¢Past heart attack †¢Present or impending heart attackAn electrocardi ogram may be performed to diagnose additional conditions which are not listed above. ECG Procedure and Patient preparation The patient does not need to take any special steps before having an electrocardiogram. However, the nurse may ask about the medicines the patient is taking as some medicines can affect the results. Also, the nurse performing the test may instruct the patient to avoid exercising or drinking cold water immediately before an ECG, as it may cause false results. The procedure of an ECG is painless and harmless. A nurse will attach soft, sticky patches called electrodes to the skin of chest, arms, and legs.The patches are about the size of a quarter. Often, 12 patches are attached to patient’s body. This helps detect the heart's electrical activity from many areas at the same time. The nurse may have to shave areas of the skin to help the patches stick. After the patches are placed on patient’s skin, he/she will lie still on a table while the patches de tect heart's electrical signals (Pagana & Pagana, 2010). During the ECG recording, nurse may instruct the patient to lie quietly for 10-20 seconds, because the electrocardiograph will detect any muscle or body movement.A machine will record these signals on graph paper or display them on a screen. The entire test will take about 10 minutes. After an electrocardiogram, the nurse will remove the electrodes (soft patches) from the patient’s skin. Patient may develop a rash or redness where the EKG patches were attached. This mild rash often goes away without treatment. Patient usually can go back to his/her normal daily routine after an ECG. Summary An electrocardiogram is a painless, non-invasive diagnostic test that records heart’s electrical activity.This test shows, how fast a heart beats, whether the rhythm of the heart is regular or irregular and the strength and timing of electrical signals as they pass through each part of the heart. Healthcare providers use this test to study and detect many heart problems and the results of this test can also suggest other disorders that affect heart function. Conducting an ECG when appropriate is a primary step in increasing a patient’s survival, and leads to a clearer, gained understanding of what is actually happening to a patient’s heart.

Knowledge Management Essay

It involves applying the collective knowledge and abilities of the entire workforce to achieve specific organizational objectives. State agencies should feel free to adapt and use information and tools on the following pages as necessary within their organization. It is provided to be a starting point for sharing knowledge and experience, allowing those who remain with the organization to continue providing quality service. Capturing and sharing critical knowledge and expertise should be occurring continuously among employees. In many cases, however, it is not and this need becomes pressing when a valued employee is preparing to retire or change positions. When an organization is considering implementing a knowledge transfer plan it is important to answer several questions: 1. Is the organization going to fill the vacant position or reassign the duties? 2. Are all the duties of the position still important to the mission of the organization? 3. Is there a need to update the position description? 4. Will the position change, remain as is, or be eliminated once the employee leaves? What is knowledge transfer? David DeLong’s book â€Å"Lost Knowledge† describes knowledge as the â€Å"capacity for effective actions or decision-making in the context of organizational activity†. Accordingly, lost knowledge would decrease this vital capacity and help undermine organizational effectiveness and performance. The goal of transferring knowledge to others [known as Knowledge Transfer] is to: 1. Identify key positions and people where potential knowledge loss is most imminent. 2. Assess how critical the knowledge loss will be. Develop a plan of action to ensure the capture of that critical knowledge and a plan of action to transfer it. Why is knowledge transfer important? A significant percentage of the state’s workforce is nearing retirement age over the next ten years. These employees have acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge about how things work, how to get things done and who to go to when problems arise. Losing their expertise and experience could significantly reduce efficiency, resulting in costly mistakes, unexpected quality problems, or significant disruptions in services and/or performance. In addition, faster turnover among younger employees and more competitive recruiting and compensation packages add significantly to the mounting concern about the state’s ability to sustain acceptable levels of performance. What are the benefits of a knowledge transfer program? Knowledge transfer [KT] programs prevent critical knowledge loss by focusing on key areas. Some of the immediate benefits of KT programs are: 1. They provide reusable documentation of the knowledge required in certain positions or job roles. 2. They result in immediate learning and knowledge transfer when carried out by individuals who can either use the transferred knowledge themselves or have responsibility for hiring, training, mentoring, coaching or managing people within an organizational unit. 3. They reduce the impact of employee departure. 4. They integrate staffing, training, job and organization redesign, process improvements and other responses. 5. They aid in succession planning. 6. They prevent the loss of knowledge held only in employees’ heads when they leave the organization or retire. They enhance career development. Generally Accepted Definitions for Knowledge Management and Transfer Knowledge Management (KM) refers to practices used by organizations to find, create, and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness, and learning across the organization. Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organizational objectives and are intended to lead to the achievement of specific outcomes such as shared intelligence, improved performance, or higher levels of innovation. Knowledge Transfer (an aspect of Knowledge Management) has always existed in one form or another through on-the-job discussions with peers, apprenticeship, and maintenance of agency libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. Since the late twentieth century, technology has played a vital role in Knowledge Transfer through the creation of knowledge bases, expert systems, and other knowledge repositories. To understand knowledge management and knowledge transfer, it is helpful to examine the differences between data, information, and knowledge. Data is discrete, objective facts. Data is the raw material for creating information. By itself, data carries no judgment, interpretation or meaning. Information is data that is organized, patterned and/or categorized. It has been sorted, analyzed and displayed, and is communicated through various means. Information changes the way a person perceives something, thus, affecting judgment or behavior. Knowledge is what is known. It is richer and more meaningful than information. Knowledge is gained through experience, reasoning, intuition, and learning. Because knowledge is intuitive, it is difficult to structure, can be hard to capture on machines, and is a challenge to transfer. We often speak of a â€Å"knowledgeable person,† and by that we mean someone who is well informed, and thoroughly versed in a given area. We expand our knowledge when others share theirs with us. We create new knowledge when we pool our knowledge together.

Beowulf Essay

In the epic poem â€Å"Beowulf†, the poet presents both the elements courage and cowardice. These elements are very important and show up continuously throughout the poem. Although the poem is mainly about heroic battles, there are also many cowardly acts among the villagers. The poet significantly develops courage throughout the poem. It is shown when Beowulf challenges Grendel to a battle and ends up defeating him. It is stated that Beowulf fought without any armor and still won. Once done with the fight, he is faced with another battle which is Grendel’s mother. After a tough and long fight, Beowulf ends up winning as well. The brave and courageous thing about Beowulf is that he is willing to do anything and fight for his people, he gives it all his strength to save his village. For example, the challenge with Grendel started because he was terrorizing the Danes. Another example of courage in the poem is when Beowulf fights the dragon, it is clear that this is one of his toughest battles but he cares for his people and puts himself in danger. Beowulf accomplishes a lot for the survival of the Danes and the Geats. On the other hand, cowardice is also shown in the poem through Unferth. Unferth does not want to live under the â€Å"courageous† culture that is so popular in many men anymore. By this, he is letting so much happen to his kingdom and doesn’t care. The most coward thing that Unferth does is give away his sword, it was known back then that a virtuous warrior never parted from his sword. Just like Beowulf is very brave, he has his bad moment as well, he doesn’t want to admit that his time has come and that he is too old to fight the dragon. But the people in Geats show cowardice by not helping their king on his battle. Instead, they hide and just watch not even helping their king who has done so much for them. In conclusion, the epic poem â€Å"Beowulf† may have many brave people but it also shows how some throw away their position as king or do not want to fight for their people anymore, as well as the inconsiderate villagers. Both courage and cowardice are very well portrayed in the poem.

Job dissatisfaction Essay

1.What symptom(s) in this case suggest that something has gone wrong? In this case, there are few symptoms clearly stated that something has gone wrong for this company. These symptoms can be classified into two main areas; one is the negative feedback from the customers and another one if from its own employee’s job dissatisfaction. As stated in this case, the customer services business has grown doubled in the past five years as the advancement of technology allowed employees to investigate most software and hardware system faults from the center through remote monitoring. However, as the business grows, there are possibility of increasing work load and pressure that causes the rise of those negative feedbacks from both customers and employees. First of all, the symptoms that suggested something had gone wrong includes the company was unable to live up through their customer’s expectation. This is shown by the increasing complaints regarding poor quality service by customers. Customers have commented that employees seem indifferent to the client’s problem, not enthusiastic in assisting and helping them. Besides, they also commented that they are receiving slow response to their problem where solving their issue requires the involvement of more than one department. This might due to poor procedure flow. Moreover, their customer also commented that employees are lacking of knowledge regarding client’s unique information technology system infrastructure. There are more symptoms being detected in employee side which include increased in employee resignations above industry average and employee referrals become rare. Employees are complaining about monotonous work where the work is lacking in variety and interest. Employees also commented that they are disconnected from the consequences of their work, where the outcome of their service is not made known to them. Conflicts that frequently occur among employees with different departments also a symptom that showing appropriate action must be taken by the management. Employees also complaining about the stress level are increasing when serving dissatisfied clients. It is clearly that the company is experiencing some growth; however, the management needs to find a solution to solve the arising issue where their employees are lacking of motivation in their job. However, the executive team’s decision to raise pay rates for its customer service staff and the vested profit-sharing plan does not improve the employees’ work performance or customers’ satisfaction. 2.What are the main causes of these symptoms? The main cause of these symptoms is the lack of motivation among customer service employees. As according to the results of employee survey and informal comments given by employees, we can conclude that most of the employees do not meet their job satisfaction. This is the main factor for the lack of engagement in doing their task, ended with poor performance in their customer service. The work effectiveness is strongly affected by employees’ work motivation and job satisfaction. The lack of motivation among customer service staff is caused by several factors which include the boredom from monotonous work, feels disconnected from the consequences of their work, conflicts with other departments and the stress serving unhappy clients. All of the above causes are leading to job dissatisfaction among employees which then driving poor quality service to their customers. They are lacking of common goal in their task. The relation between those factors and motivation level among employees can be explained by the Job Characteristic Model. According to Job Characteristic Model, five core job dimensions, skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback from job, produce three psychological states among employees and lead to higher level of internal work motivation, job satisfaction and work effectiveness. From the employee survey and informal comments, it is clear that the job is lack of variety and lacking of feedback from job. In addition, problem within the structure of the company causing conflicts between departments. This might due to lack of proper channel of communication from the time of query have been made by customer and the ticket is issued until the problem has been resolved. Besides, high quit  rate and lower productivity among new employees is another reason causing poor quality service to customers. The overall scenario does not improve but turned worst instead when the management takes the wrong approach in solving the problem by rising employees pay. The problem and causes of the poor quality service is not been analyzed and identified, thus there is no positive impact by just rising pay rates to customer service staff. This can be further discussed as ineffectiveness of reward. The reward given is not linked to the work performance; as the results, employees do not experience the positive emotions even when they receive higher pay or incentive from the vested profit-sharing plan. 3.What actions should Yakka Tech executives take to correct these problems? Yakka Tech executives should take few actions in order to correct these problems. These actions mainly focus on three parts, first is on boosting up employees job satisfaction to increase their job motivation. Secondly, the management should implement a better and more organize system for the flow of query between departments. Thirdly, the Yakka Tech executives should reconstruct the reward system in order to improve reward effectiveness. These problems must be properly addressed and analyzed before the company implements new solutions. Management shall gather more information regarding the factors causing employees job dissatisfaction which results in poor quality service. Productivity among employees is strongly related to their job engagement and job motivation. As in this case, the executives should establish a goal setting plan in order to help employees have a clear goal on their job which help in motivating the employees. By setting a precise goal can also help to motivate employees to stay in track. In addition, the executives can establish a feedback system to promote communication between management and staff. Set a regular employee survey, group meetings or other feedback system to enable employees to share their thoughts to the management. This is to allow the management to detect those areas that need improvement to have better employee engagement. An organized system is vital in any organization in order to promote smooth work flow. Yakka Tech should implement a better and more organize system to solve the communication problem between departments and the flow of query between departments. A clear procedure of work flow should be set and made known to all departments that involve in addressing customer’s problem. Moreover, adequate training for new employees and ongoing training for employee is important. This is to keep employees skills up-to-date and increase productivity. Reconstruct the reward system to promote reward effectiveness. The rates of pay do not increase productivity, but employee engagement does. The executives should come out a better incentive scheme to motivate their employees. For example, reward is given to employee who receives good comment from their customer or annual bonus is given to the team when the complaints rate is lower than the benchmark. The reward given should be always linked to the employee performance and the management should provide relevant reward the valued by their employee.

Assagnment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assagnment - Essay Example We will focus on the biggest area of its business, television. Its television division is a global company that broadcasts all over the world. Its main competitor, Company XYZ, is also a global company that broadcasts internationally. The company’s working principle is to provide the audience with what they want to see on television to obtain more viewers without sacrificing the quality of its television programs. For a television station, it is sometimes hard to weigh which is a more important aspect of television programs: quantity of viewers or quality of shows. Though many people may think that quality shows amounts to many viewers, it is often not the case. Many times, viewers switch on their television sets just to view on a program (or channel) they have patronized for a long time. It does not necessarily mean that what the station offers are what the viewers want to see. The reason for this is mainly because big television stations would rather invest on formulaic, tested programs than on risky, novel concepts that may cause the station millions. On a business financial side, this is an understandable fact. However, one can also see that if this principle continues to pre-empt the conceptualization and realization of fresh and excellent ideas, it may spell disaster in the long run. There is the risk of having the main competitor station come up with a good idea that may be a hit to the viewers. It will be a tough truth to accept if this particular â€Å"hit† idea was initially thought of by the station but was not realized due to fear of â€Å"too much risk†. This is the main reason why ABC Company thought of splitting up the Research and Concept Development Group. It is to have a section that would focus also on the qualitative side of things. This is the department that will be discussed in this paper. This department is divided into quantitative and qualitative

Spanish Language in Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spanish Language in Schools - Essay Example The first study to track Toronto high school students through Ontario's new four-year curriculum also show that students who speak Spanish, Portuguese or Somali are at higher risk than kids who speak any other of the city's most common languages. And they are more likely to fail Grade 9 math and flunk the Grade 10 literacy test, and are less likely to apply to college or university. (American Renaissance, 21 September 2008). The result of the survey is without a doubt shocking and this is the biggest pitfall which is taking place in many schools around the globe. Once a student drops out, his/her whole life will be affected because of that decision and not all can become Bill Gates even after dropping out. The whole census was taken in order to find out what exactly was the reason of the students not faring well in their exams and the facts which came out were really shocking. The background of the student matters a lot, if a student belongs to Mexico or Portugal and the school authorities have Spanish as a compulsory language in the curriculum, the student would be very disappointed because his background is not apt in learning the language and moreover if he fails to show any improvement, the disappointment will reach a different level and the student will surely think of dropping out. All these things matter a lot to the students; the pressure these days on days in huge and coping with that pressure is not that easy. Spanish should be taught in the schools but it shouldn't be made compulsory because the students in a school will surely be from diverse backgrounds and some other language other than Spanish can be introduced but in that case also it should not be made a compulsion. By learning a language no student can become intelligent and develop as a person, a schools curriculum should have subjects which will develop the overall personality of the s tudent and learning Spanish will certainly not do that. "The purpose of learning Spanish is to communicate with the people who speak the language and to understand their cultures." (Kuala High school, 21 September 2008). Though it can be argued that learning Spanish has many advantages but overall its effects on students is very negative, especially for the students from diverse backgrounds. Spanish is very difficult to learn and the pronunciation is very complicated, the same makes the language very tough to learn. The schools which include Spanish in their curriculum make a big mistake and those schools never take into consideration the students from diverse background, which is the biggest mistake which they make and the same results in the students dropping out from the school and ultimately spoiling their career. The situation should be well understood by the school authorities and it should not continue, the people responsible behind introducing Spanish in the school's curriculum should learn from their mistakes before it's too late . The most important point here is the diversity of students studying in various schools and the immigration policies. There are so many people who travel and settle in different countries and if the native language of that country is included in the curriculum then they will surely be discouraged and will feel like giving up studies forever. So many times it so

Federal Laws & Segregation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Federal Laws & Segregation - Essay Example The discussion focuses on Massachusetts where land-zoning policy was crafted to improve living standards of suburban residence. Although the rule has been faulted from some quarters, its success lies on its implementation, thus, ensuring that its noble ideals are attained. Federal law and segregation Federal law is a comprehensive legislation that holds the capacity to improve the welfare of the US citizens. It was initiated with a clear mission to promote monetary and social autonomy in various states in the US (housing and planning association article, 1). However, its critics are pushing for some sections to be repealed asserting their inconsistency in serving the national interest. Federal policies have presented two major consequences that are viewed in dynamic perspectives by stakeholders in US and especially in Massachusetts. Firstly, the policies have promoted or favored investment in suburbs while neglecting central cities (Haverty & Regnante 1). The policies present relevan t incentives that are boosting construction of housing units in rural settings and creation of effective management plans that facilitate equality. Ideally, these guidelines were developed to uplift living standards in rural areas. The policies were set to empower the less privileged individuals in suburb areas. The rules equivocally encouraged monetary and political competition between the cities and rural settings that enjoyed local autonomy in terms of administration of possessions. The policies enable the locals at various states in US with reference to Massachusetts to gain absolute autonomy over land use, taxation, housing, education. However, critics of federal policies asserts that, development of distinct suburban rules, and the competition among local authorities have promoted economic segregation and suburban sprawl. The policies has created uneven operating field caused by inconsistent jurisdictional laws that have encouraged segregation in the US (housing and planning a ssociation article, 2). Although the federal policies provide noble intentions to facilitate equality in service delivery, their execution requires advancement of consistent strategies that are sustainable. This is necessary to avert possible traumatizing incidences of war, for example, civil animosity. Anti-Snob Zoning In 1969, Massachusetts authorities developed a law referred to as â€Å"Anti Snob Zoning†. The law borrowed the concept of the federal policies with an aim of regulating land usage to correct racial imbalance and help in developing affordable housing. The government adopted zoning bylaws that provided clear guidelines on land usage and construction policies (Hall730). The guidelines sought to regulate the construction styles, density, open space and building design but not to promote housing burden sharing. This was to ensure that the buildings put up conform to set standards as the construction guidelines of the city structures. This project was undertaken in the local areas of Massachusetts to uplift the lifestyle of the poor, which is a fundamental right. Clearly, the law sets up construction policies, defined zonal aspects of building and prospective beneficiaries. The designated zones include single residence, multiple, commercial and industrial residents (Hall 730). This