Performing ECGs – Learning the Practical Skills

Good Day Everyone! 

Hope that all is well. In this blog I would like to talk about performing ECGs on my classmates and friends including how I find the lab sessions on Saturday mornings. Since we have been provided with a great Lab instructor, Kathy who is a pro in doing proper electrode placements and analyzing ECGs including Stress Testing, learning the practical skills of a Cardiology Technologist has been significantly easier. 

The 1st couple of placements I did were a little tricky because as I found it a little hard in finding the Angle of Lui (Manubrium) to start counting down to the 4th intercostal space in which the heart’s superior portion situates. I actually enjoyed practicing ECGs on non-classmates since I enjoyed the communication portion of the procedure as I could get as much information of the patient in regards to his/her medical history, medication and any present symptoms like chest pain, shortness of Breath etc.

I found it very fascinating in regards to the amount of knowledge I can gain from the patient before I perform the ECG. A patient’s history is very crucial for us as it can help us in what we need to look for on the ECG. For instance if the patient came in with chest pain, I as a cardiac technologist, would have to look out for abnormalities on the ECG that would indicate a myocardial infarction or ischemia. As our instructor Kathy always says, communication is very crucial when it comes to this profession since the past history of the patient can tell us a lot about what disease the patient might have or will be prone to have in the future. 

During our Thursday and Friday lab, our class would pide into two groups so that one group would have the lecture by Ramon and the other would have their lab session with Kathy. After about 2 hours we would have a break and then we switch the groups. In the lab, Kathy has taught us a variety of different ECG placements in which type of placement has importance in identifying the heart’s rhythm and confirming a patient’s diagnosis. Each type of ECG placement has a unique name so that when we get into our work field and the physician requests us to perform it, we’ll be ready to rock 🙂

Once a month on a Saturday, we have six students who attend a weekend lab during which we have friends and family members coming in to get their ECGs done. Saturday labs are always fun as we get to roll from patient to patient and are quite good at doing right placements and recording clean ECGs. I can say this with confidence as our instructor Kathy always gives us feedbacks after the lab on how we have performed and if there are improvements needed. Hence, learning the practical skills of our Cardiology profession has been and always will be awesome and we are looking forward to complete our current Pacemaker specialty and then go to the ETT (Stress Testing).

Thank you everyone for keep reading our blogs and as always I will keep updating you about my progress.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” –  Dr. Seuss,

Regards,

Check out a video of our cardio tech students in action.