AHL 181 - Basic EKG Technician Training

2.0 Continuing Education Units (CEU). This course is not for Credit(s).

This course is designed to introduce students to EKGs and cardiac anatomy and physiology. Topics to be covered include basic cardiac anatomy, patient preparation, and patient confidentiality. Students will learn the blood flow in the heart to the rest of the body, the landmarks of where the electrodes are placed in an EKG reading, how to distinguish between a healthy and unhealthy EKG, how to recognize arrhythmias, and how to document what they observe in an EKG.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. identify the basic structures of the heart and how they function;
2. identify the components of the EKG wave and explain how they relate to the cardiac
system;
3. recognize the landmarks of where the electrodes are placed in an EKG;
4. review a basic EKG strip and determine the rate, rhythm, axis, whether there is an
arrhythmia, and where the arrhythmia arises in the heart; and
5. recognize various diseases and conditions in the heart based on viewing the EKG
strip.