EKGs on Step I?

[DeadCactus]

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How in depth are the EKGs on Step 1? Or are there even any? I'm using Garcia to learn them, but have no idea whether to stop at the beginner, intermediate, or advanced material.

 

[turkeyjerky]

The only ecg I had on mine was an example of hypocalcemia, it was a close-up of a single beat with an arrow pointing to the prolonged ST segment. It was accompanied by a vignette about a patient w/ pretty obvious sx of hypocalcemia (it may have been hyper-, I can't really remember).

They're not gonna give you a twelve-lead strip and ask what the diagnosis is; Garcia is a good book, but big-time overkill for step 1 directed studying. The stuff in first aid is prolly enough.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I can recall 2 EKG-related questions, but one only expected you to recognize a condition from a verbal description. The other was a really obvious example of ST elevation. Like Mr. Jurkey said, the stuff you'll find in the study aids you'll be using anyway is more than enough.

 

[Perrotfish]

I believe the rule is rhythem strips only, no 12 lead EKGs. Double check that, though.

 

[engineeredout]

Could probably see a WPW delta wave on it because those are pretty easily identifyable.

 

[DeadCactus]

Sounds like the beginner section is more than enough them. Thanks for the input all.

 

[NERDY]

Any one recently get in depth EKG questions?

 

[JamesBond15]

DIT talked about knowing how to figure out the axis in EKG. However I have never seen a practice question on that. Did anyone get that on their step 1?

 

[cbrons]

I believe the rule is rhythem strips only, no 12 lead EKGs. Double check that, though.

DIT talked about knowing how to figure out the axis in EKG. However I have never seen a practice question on that. Did anyone get that on their step 1?

If Perrotfish is right, they won't ask you about the axis just by showing you a rhythm strip (usually Lead-II) because you will need more info. You can nail the vector down to a quadrant just by looking at leads I and avF (both positive = normal, avF + & I - = right axis deviation, avF - & I + = left axis deviation, both negative = extreme right axis deviation). Approximating the vector to a precise degree is a little more complicated and may be beyond the scope of the exam. This book is shorter than Garcia and does explain axis determination.

 

[Sheldor]

Any one recently get in depth EKG questions?

I had one on mine. You had to determine the rhythm, and it wasn't one of the obvious ones (atrial flutter, etc) Luckily it was only one question!

 

[richse]

I had one on mine. You had to determine the rhythm, and it wasn't one of the obvious ones (atrial flutter, etc) Luckily it was only one question!

Was it wenckebach or something like that?

 

[da8s0859q]

I believe the rule is rhythem strips only, no 12 lead EKGs. Double check that, though.

I had a 12-lead. But what they were trying to point out was pretty clear in most of the leads anyway.

 

[duswdav]

I had one on mine. You had to determine the rhythm, and it wasn't one of the obvious ones (atrial flutter, etc) Luckily it was only one question!

you'd be surprised how often Aflutter isn't one of the obvious ones. 😉

 

[b-real]

If I recall correctly, I had a couple of basic ones...STEMI so overt a premed could figure it out and Wenckebach.

 

[ArcGurren]

I had two. One of them was Wenkebach's AV block, and the other was peaked T waves asking for the electrolyte disturbance (hyperkalemia).

 

[2012mdc]

Was it wenckebach or something like that?

wouldn't you have to consider a dropped beat pretty obvious?

I took it over a year ago but I don't remember any complex ekg's

 

[armybound]

I had a fairly simple Afib 12-lead but the question was about chronic anticoagulation

 

[justdoit31]

I didn't have any of them on mine today- but I did have about 40 immunology questions 🙁

 

[da8s0859q]

I didn't have any of them on mine today- but I did have about 40 immunology questions 🙁

Wow, I don't remember nearly that many. How did it go?

(Also: cool that I remember you posting in the RoT threads, and now we're talking about walking out of Step. Nice.)

 

[LossForWords]

I believe the rule is rhythem strips only, no 12 lead EKGs. Double check that, though.

I had one on mine. You had to determine the rhythm, and it wasn't one of the obvious ones (atrial flutter, etc) Luckily it was only one question!

If I recall correctly, I had a couple of basic ones...STEMI so overt a premed could figure it out and Wenckebach.

Man, I had both of these on my exam today. No joke!

 

[fahimaz7]

I didn't have a single strip on my test

 

[Depakote]

Remember, you only have a little over a minute a question. You aren't going to have time to do an in-depth analysis of an EKG on Step I (or II). If you have a rhythm strip on your test, the diagnosis will be evident from both the vignette and the strip at quick glance.