Over the past 20 years,the use of in-hospital telemetry monitoring has expandad (Helms&Adkins,2006).As a result,medical-surgical nurses aer expected increasingly to analyze and interpret cardiac rhythm strips. According to guidelines established by the American College of Cardiology (1991), cardiacmonitoring surveillance must be done by staff qualified in both rhythm interpretation and response to life-threatening dysrhythmias. However,because some dysrhythmias occur infrequently, maintaining competency in cardiac rhythm analysis and treatment can be a challenge. The qurpose of this coiumn is to help medical-surgical nurses with this important task.