Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 22 MAS 529 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Backup Pacemakers
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The idea
If the SA node fails, other parts of the heart take over as slower backup pacemakers.
In practice
The atrioventricular node is the first backup; if every other backup fails, fibers in the ventricles pace the heart at only twenty to forty beats a minute.
Where people slip
A very slow rate can mean the normal pacemaker is failing; report it at once.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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