why must we learn EKG?

[lazydazy]

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hi fellow pharmacy students,

why must we learn how to calculate info. from EKG, the physiology behind it, eithoven's triangle, etc? i find some of the stuff we're learning during our first year to be a bit over the top. i mean, i can understand learning about how the heart works, but we're not going to be reading EKG's (like EKG techs or doctors) on a regular basis. sometimes, i feel like we're going into so much detail for naught. i can't wait until physiology is over by the way!

 

[ultracet]

because you will be learning to read and diagnose and make treatment recommendations from them during your therapeutics class.....

or at least that's the way it was here

 

[lazydazy]

thanks for your response. i'm glad i'm not learning this just b/c and it has a purpose for later use.

is this something hospital pharmacists commonly do? i work in a hospital pharmacy and i've never seen a pharmacist look at an EKG. of course, i've only been working there for about a year part-time so i definitely don't know the ins and outs of hospital pharmacy.

also, i thought we're suppossed to leave the diagnoses up to doctors...i mean, are we being taught this just in case our role as a healthcare provider expands or something?

i don't know, i guess i'm pondering on this too much b/c i really loathe studying for physiology.

 

[ultracet]

i never suggested that it would be used outside of school.....

however i have had a few friends who were asked random things like that on rotations..

 

[dgroulx]

thanks for your response. i'm glad i'm not learning this just b/c and it has a purpose for later use.

is this something hospital pharmacists commonly do? i work in a hospital pharmacy and i've never seen a pharmacist look at an EKG. of course, i've only been working there for about a year part-time so i definitely don't know the ins and outs of hospital pharmacy.

also, i thought we're suppossed to leave the diagnoses up to doctors...i mean, are we being taught this just in case our role as a healthcare provider expands or something?

i don't know, i guess i'm pondering on this too much b/c i really loathe studying for physiology.

We were told that we need to be able to converse with doctors on consultations. If the doctors says something about any diagnostic test, we need to be able to understand what they are talking about. If you're on a cardiology rotation, this probably comes up a lot.

So, in short, we learn to diagnose and treat in school so we don't look like an idiot later on.

 

[lazydazy]

thanks for the clarification...sometimes i feel like we're learning stuff just b/c w/o any further application.

 

[tupac_don]

hi fellow pharmacy students,

why must we learn how to calculate info. from EKG, the physiology behind it, eithoven's triangle, etc? i find some of the stuff we're learning during our first year to be a bit over the top. i mean, i can understand learning about how the heart works, but we're not going to be reading EKG's (like EKG techs or doctors) on a regular basis. sometimes, i feel like we're going into so much detail for naught. i can't wait until physiology is over by the way!

They do it so that you would have a general idea of what an EKG is and that you can intelligently discuss the patient with the doctor. Imagine you are on rounds and the doctor starts talking about EKG, and you are like EGK, what a hell is that??? Not that anyone will ask you to interpret an EKG or for that matter that you will remember much than just the basics, but you just need a general idea.

 

[tupac_don]

because you will be learning to read and diagnose and make treatment recommendations from them during your therapeutics class.....

or at least that's the way it was here

I highly doubt that you are gonna diagnose, in fact I know that nobody will let you diagnose a patient. The doctor makes the diagnosis, like A-Fib or MI and then pharmacist may suggest drug treatment. But a pharmacist will never diagnose solo, without the doctor diagnosing and seeing the patient. Pharmacist will pretty much only suggest tx based on the diagnosis, but actually diagnose a cardiac problem, no way.

 

[Sosumi]

Pharmacists aren't technically supposed to diagnose. However, we're taught about the elements in the diagnosis and what's required for diagnose to understand the strength of evidence for the diagnosis. Then we can give a therapeutic recommendation based on the strength of the evidence, then factor in patient and agent related variables, as well as contingency recommendation in case the data comes back later that changes the diagnosis or its severity.

 

[Caverject]

I highly doubt that you are gonna diagnose, in fact I know that nobody will let you diagnose a patient. The doctor makes the diagnosis, like A-Fib or MI and then pharmacist may suggest drug treatment. But a pharmacist will never diagnose solo, without the doctor diagnosing and seeing the patient. Pharmacist will pretty much only suggest tx based on the diagnosis, but actually diagnose a cardiac problem, no way.

Yeah...i had a doctor "diagnosis" DKA on a patient with just an electrolyte imbalance. It helps that I know how to diagnosis so I can give proper treatment and care if the doctor doesn't, which does happen every now and then.

 

[dgroulx]

I highly doubt that you are gonna diagnose, in fact I know that nobody will let you diagnose a patient. The doctor makes the diagnosis, like A-Fib or MI and then pharmacist may suggest drug treatment. But a pharmacist will never diagnose solo, without the doctor diagnosing and seeing the patient. Pharmacist will pretty much only suggest tx based on the diagnosis, but actually diagnose a cardiac problem, no way.

I think bbmuffin was saying that she had to diagnose in her therapeutics class. We realize that we won't be doing diagnosis in the real world, but we will be doing it to pass therapeutics.