Understanding EKGs

About our author Brenda Messer Beasley is a paramedic and a registered nurse. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alabama and Lorenz University, respectively, and also completed additional postgraduate studies. Following graduation from nursing school at the University of Alabama, Ms. Beasley was employed as a nurse (RN) in the emergency department of University Hospital in Birmingham. She remained in emergency nursing for the next 10 years, with a two-year hiatus when she became certified as a critical care neurosurgical nurse and worked in the NICU at Carraway Medical Center.

Ms. Beasley was working as an ER nurse in 1978 when she was asked to teach a basic EMT course. With a great deal of reticence yet strong encouragement from the chief of staff at the local hospital, she concurred. She immediately developed a passion for quality EMS education, and the rest, as they say, is history. For the next 30 years, she served as an EMS educator in the state of Alabama, and in 2001 was named Department Chair of Allied Health at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama. She held that position until her retirement in 2007. Ms. Beasley was an affiliate faculty member of the American Heart Association's Emergency Cardiac Care Program for 25 years. Other professional activities include roles in the BTLS affiliate faculty and board of directors of the National Association of EMS Educators and serving on the medical advisory boards of Tanner Medical System-East Alabama, Action Training Systems and Southern Ambulance Transport.

In 1999, Ms. Beasley published her first book on EKG interpretation and has subsequently authored other texts for Brady/Pearson Health Science. She resides in Wedowee, Alabama (with her beloved pet, Kitty Boo), where she serves as vice chair of the local hospital board. Ms. Beasley is actively involved in the First United Methodist Church of Wedowee and has served as the Governance Committee Chair for the National Association of EMS Educators.