Electrocardiogram Mosaic
Objectives
- Students will be able to identify the critical characteristics of an ECG trace and describe how these relate to the cycle of a beating heart.
- Students will be able to explain how the heart generates electrical signals.
- Students will study electric dipoles and electric fields in a unique and interesting context.
- Students will understand the cardiac cycle and intrinsic conduction system.
- Students will learn cardiac anatomy.
- Students will solve engineering analysis problems.
Description
This module was written with a physics or accelerated physics class in mind. A biology or physiology class may also find it useful. This mosaic leads students through a thorough study of the heart. The action potentials of the heart are studied on a cellular basis and then summed together to create the electric dipole that the ECG measures. How the ECG machine actually measures electrical activity is discussed. The normal ECG’s timing and shape are carefully studied and then used to compare with the ECG in the grand challenge.
Concepts and Skills
Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathophysiology
- Anatomy of heart
- Path of blood flow through heart
- Action potential
- Conduction system of heart
- Normal electrical pattern in the heart - PQRST waves
- How abnormal physiology and anatomy affects the electrical activity of the heart
Electricity
- Electric dipole
- Electric field
Biomedical Engineering
- Sensing electrical activity in the body
- Use of electrodes
Engineering
- Analysis problems
Activities
- Electric Field Mapping
- Students take and analyze their own ECG
Time
This module is expected to take twenty-four 50-minute class periods.