Patient Care Technology
Identification and Definition
A leadless pacemaker is a small, self-contained unit that is placed on the inside wall of the heart through a thin, flexible catheter. In other words, it is a pacemaker without the leads (Bongiorni et al., 2016). A pacemaker is a small device that is placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart rhythms. This device uses low-energy electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate (60-100 beats per minute) (Mann, Zipes, Libby, & Bonow, 2015).
Brief History and Background
The idea of artificial electrical stimulation of the heart can be dated back to the ancient roman times, but first primitive method for clinical cardiac pacing was achieved many years later by a Boston cardiologist named Paul Zoll. In 1952, Zoll reported successful resuscitation of two patients who were suffering from ventricular standstill by placing external electrodes onto the anterior chest attached to a remote electric pulse generator (Ramsdale & Rao, 2012). Both patients had suffered from Stokes-Adams attacks, which is a life-threatening form of atrioventricular block characterized by episodes of ventricular standstill, ventricular escape bradycardia, ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. The …show more content…
Patients who are faced with a decision to deactivate a pacemaker are elderly, often very sick, and unprepared to deal with this issue (. When patients can’t speak for themselves, family members and health care providers rely on the patient’s advance directives, which prove to be of little help. Although patients prepare advance directives, only a few mention pacemakers. To provide guidance, several medical groups issued a consensus statement, affirming that it is both legal and ethical to turn off a pacemaker when requested by a patient or family member (Lampert,
Identification and Definition
A leadless pacemaker is a small, self-contained unit that is placed on the inside wall of the heart through a thin, flexible catheter. In other words, it is a pacemaker without the leads (Bongiorni et al., 2016). A pacemaker is a small device that is placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart rhythms. This device uses low-energy electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate (60-100 beats per minute) (Mann, Zipes, Libby, & Bonow, 2015).
Brief History and Background
The idea of artificial electrical stimulation of the heart can be dated back to the ancient roman times, but first primitive method for clinical cardiac pacing was achieved many years later by a Boston cardiologist named Paul Zoll. In 1952, Zoll reported successful resuscitation of two patients who were suffering from ventricular standstill by placing external electrodes onto the anterior chest attached to a remote electric pulse generator (Ramsdale & Rao, 2012). Both patients had suffered from Stokes-Adams attacks, which is a life-threatening form of atrioventricular block characterized by episodes of ventricular standstill, ventricular escape bradycardia, ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. The …show more content…
Patients who are faced with a decision to deactivate a pacemaker are elderly, often very sick, and unprepared to deal with this issue (. When patients can’t speak for themselves, family members and health care providers rely on the patient’s advance directives, which prove to be of little help. Although patients prepare advance directives, only a few mention pacemakers. To provide guidance, several medical groups issued a consensus statement, affirming that it is both legal and ethical to turn off a pacemaker when requested by a patient or family member (Lampert,