Category: Work and Education

TAG Agreement, SAT, and ACT Exams in California for the College Bound

So I’d like to cover this topic before I perpetually forget to do so, you see I was having a discussion with my stepmother regarding these three topics in relation to my younger brother who is near the doorstep of reaching his college years. He’s a very good student and I’d like to offer them as much information as I can to help him along the way and in doing so I figured that I might as well share this information to anyone else who might find it helpful as well.

First off I’m not really going to address the topic of SATs much because it’s something that my stepmother is already well aware of, but for anyone else who might not be as familiar with it I’ll simply say that it is one of the main exams that colleges and universities look at when they’re deciding whether or not to accept a students’ college application.

Second I’ll cover the ACT exam because my stepmother had never heard of it and unless things have changed since the time that I was in my college bound years, then it is the second exam that colleges and universities look at when going over applications.

The only site that I found that discusses which test you need to take or if you need to take both is https://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-act. It seems that based on the information it gives you can take one or both and that most colleges will accept either test but just click on the link to read the information for yourself and to see what the Princeton Review suggests.

As for information regarding the ACT test alone the link for the information on their exam is here: http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act.html. One of the additional links provided from them on that page which includes a free study guide would be this: http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf.

As for the TAG agreement (aka the Transfer Agreement Guarantee), this is an agreement between community colleges and the UC’s in California. It basically is a transfer agreement between the community colleges and the UC’s, wherein 6 out of the 9 UC’s in California are participating in this program.  It is basically that the student will have to meet a list of requirements provided by the given UC’s including number of units, specific classes taken, and minimum GPA. As long as the student has applied to enter the agreement and has met the requirements then in the end the given students will automatically be accepted and be able to transfer to the UC after they have met its requirements. The agreement gives the student a 60 and a 90 unit option. I had a couple of friends that took this route and went to UC Davis and I had considered and applied for it as well, but decided not to go on with it, although even now that I am working I’m still receiving emails from these UC’s. It’s definitely a good option for people who want to save some money by entering community college first. The link for the TAG agreement is here: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html. The six participating UC’s are: Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

EKG and ACLS Review: Rhythms

IMG_1876.jpgFirst things first.

Before I even review what the important rhythms are, I’ll review the basic reading of the rhythms.

So with regards to time:

  • One box is equal to 0.04 seconds
  • 5 boxes add up to 0.2 seconds
  • And 75 boxes together equate to 3 seconds

 

IMG_1877.jpgNext is a review of the waves that are seen on the EKG rhythms:

  • First is the P wave, which under normal circumstances should be upright
  • Next is the QRS interval, the Q wave is a negative deflection, the R is a positive deflection, and the S is another negative deflection
  • Third is the upright T wave
  • And last is a U wave in some cases

 

These diagrams and descriptions are extremely basic and don’t go into too great of detail. For this information I mainly referred to a PDF I found online from a copy of ECG Interpretation Made Incredibly Easy 5th Edition I have no idea if this copy has been posted online without violation of any copyrights, I just googled “ECG for Dummies” and this was one of the sources that came up so I can’t guarantee that it will always be made available forever, but in the meantime it’s there.

Next I’m going to review the rhythms that we’re required to be able to recognize according to ACLS guidelines, the list given in the manual from the American Heart Association includes the following:

  • Sinus Rythm
  • Atrial fibrillation and flutter
  • Bradycardia
  • Tachycardia
  • Atrioventricular (AV) block
  • Asystole
  • Pulseless electrical activity (PEA)
  • Ventricular tachycardia (VT)
  • Ventricular fibrillation (VF)

IMG_1878.jpg

The images above are of rhythms that I traced from the American Heart Association’s ACLS manual.

Those rhythms are also some of the most confusing rhythms for me because all any of it looks like to me are squiggles and it confuses my brain to try and make out one type of squiggle from another type of squiggle.

I may still be wrong now, but perhaps I finally understand to some small degree some of the differences in these rhythms.

In the case of v-fib there is no particular rhyme or reason to the rhythm, it really is just squiggles, on the other hand the v-tach, which can either be monomorphic or polymorphic has more of a pattern to it (in the case of the monomorphic form it has a singular appearance in its pattern whereas in the polymorphic form the pattern varies to some degree).

IMG_1883.jpg

Next I’ll review pulseless electrical activity which has a sort of broad definition being that the rhythm is organized, but that no pulse can be detected. The list of pulseless electrical activity that is provided in the ACLS manual includes:

  • Idioventricular rhythms
  • Ventricular escape rhythms
  • Postdefribrillation idioventricular rhythms
  • Sinus rhythm

IMG_1885.jpg

This most recent image is of the various types of AV blocks. The main resource I used for this is the Youtube video: AV Blocks (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Degree).

All the AV blocks are also forms of bradycardia and since I’m on the topic of bradycardia I will add the signs and symptoms of symptomatic bradycardia since knowledge of them is useful to me in my work as a bedside nurse:

Symptoms include chest discomfort or pain, shortness of breath, decreased level of consciousness, weakness, fatigue, light-headedness, dizziness, and presyncope or syncope.

Signs include hypotension, drop in blood pressure on standing (orthostatic hypotension), diaphoresis, pulmonary congestion on physical examination or chest x-ray, frank congestive heart failure or PE, and bradycardia-related (escape) frequent premature ventricular complexes or VT. (Donnino et. al: 122)

I won’t do much review on tachycardia, but I will quote another section of the ACLS manual regarding symptomatic tachycardia because once again, this information is pertinent to my work and care as a bedside nurse:

  • Hypotension
  • Acutely altered mental status
  • Signs of shock
  • Ischemic chest discomfort
  • AHF

Last of the rhythms that I’ll review are a-fib and a-flutter.

IMG_1886.jpg

Source(s):

“The ACLS Cases.” ACLS PROVIDER MANUAL, 2016, by Michael W Donnino et al, American Heart Association, 2016, pp. 122 and 131.