Developing a Nursing Education Program for 12 Leads ECG Interpretation

Running head: EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 1
EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT.
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 2
Introduction and Scene Setting.
This is a nursing education program developed specifically for the purpose of teaching
students on the basics 12 leads of ECG procedures and interpretations based on the needs gaps
identified on education needs assessment(ENA). This program will utilize professional nursing
skills, standards, and educational knowledge necessary for the provision of quality education to
the target students. Various gaps and needs to be required for furthering the understanding of the
12 leads ECG interpretation will be addressed during the teaching sessions. In this regard, an
educational program developed with a major aim of engaging learners in the teaching sessions to
maximize and improve their performances. This will, therefore, increase students' academic and
career development. This teaching program is meant to be done at teaching classrooms where all
the teacher and learners' activities will be integrated to achieve the set objectives. This teaching
program will cover the teaching philosophy, goals and objectives of the program, teaching plans,
evaluation and reflection based on Gibb’s Model.
Explanation and definition of key terms.
About ECG
An ECG is a recording of the heart's electrical activities over a period of time. The
electrical activities are usually detected by various electrodes placed on the surface of the human
skin but displayed on an external monitor(Francis, 2016). Changes in the electrical activities are
highly beneficial as they can indicate whether the patient has an arrhythmia, electrical
imbalances or cardiac ischemia.
12 Leads ECG System.
A 12 leads ECG system is divided into three parts which include bipolar with 3 limb
leads, unipolar with three augmented limb leads and six precordial leads(Francis, 2016). The

EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 3
bipolar limb leads include limb I, II and III with two positive and negative electrodes equidistant
from the heart(Tomasic & Trobec, 2014). These electrodes record the heart's electricity flow
from negative to positive. In 12 leads ECG, the direction of electrical depolarization is refereed
to as the Lead Axis. A positive deflection is nominally produced by a wave of depolarization
moving towards a positive electrode whereas a negative deflection is recorded when
depolarization moves away from the positive electrode(Yochum, Renaud, & Jacquir, 2016). The
unipolar limb leads include the aVR, aVL, and aVF. Letter a refers to augmented, letter V is
voltage and letters R, L and F refer to the place where the electrodes are being placed, that is,
right arm left arm and left leg. In unipolar, the electricity flow from the center of the heart
toward the positive electrodes(Muhlestein et al., 2015). The pericardial leads are six namely V1
to V6. Letter V refers to unipolar and the numbers 1-6 are codes for various locations on the
precordium. The V1 and V2 are locations on either side at 4th ICS, V4 is the location at a
midclavicular line at 5th ICS. V3 is at halfway between V2 and V4, V5 is located halfway
between V4 and V^ at 5th ICS and V6 is normally located at the midaxillary line(Frangieh et al.,
2016).
Teachers and Learners' Activities.
Teacher's activities include what the teacher will be doing during the teaching sessions and
learners' activities is the expectation of the students during the active learning session.
Teaching Philosophy (Active Learning)
In this educational program, I believe teaching students using the traditional methods
where a teacher lecture and the students listen and take notes will not yield good results. This is
because such methods tend to lead to poor students concentrations in class, lack of morale, poor

EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 4
understanding of the concepts, and poor evaluation of whether the students understand the topic
or not(“Rethinking Teacher Education: Synchronizing Eastern and Western Views of Teaching
and Learning to Promote 21st Century Skills and Global Perspectives.,” 2013). Besides, while
teaching using such a method, the teacher usually does not know whether the students are
learning or not, which are the most difficult sections of the topic, where more explanations are
needed and what are the needs of the students(Thomas, 2013). Therefore, the teacher ends up
delivering information without insight into whether his or her students understand the topic or
not. In this regard, I will use the active learning method in this teaching program.
Active learning is a teaching approach that requires the students to highly engage with the
lessons and learning materials and most importantly with one another(Crookes, 2015). Although
the greater degree of learning responsibility is placed on the students, the teachers' instruction
design is very crucial. Active learning does not necessarily replace the lecture method but
incorporates the lectures with active students' engagement thus leading to deeper learning and
performance(Shin, Sok, Hyun, & Kim, 2015). Therefore, in active learning, all students are
involved in any course-related activities making them to deeply think about what they are
learning.
In active learning, students often achieve greater understanding and knowledge at which
they demonstrate what they have understood during the lesson. In this regard, students can retain
maximum skills at which they can apply without difficulties during the clinical practice(Boctor,
2013). When active learning is used in teaching any course, students often enhance mastery of
the concepts involved. This is because students who are taught in active environments usually
perceive all course-related activities and performances as personally rewarding and thus they can
tolerate any obstacles they come across(Davis, Taylor, & Reyes, 2014). Besides, through active