How to remove an ECG: a description of the algorithm, a scheme for applying electrodes and recommendations

The heart is the most important organ in the human body. It is often compared to a motor, which is not surprising, because the main function of the heart is the constant pumping of blood in the vessels of our body. The heart works 24 hours a day! But it happens that it does not cope with its functions due to illness. Of course, it is necessary to monitor the overall health, including the health of the heart, but this in our time is not at all and not always.

A little history of the appearance of ECG

Back in the middle of the 19th century, healers began to think about how to track the work, identify deviations in time and warn the terrible consequences of the functioning of the sick heart. Already at that time, the doctors discovered that electrical muscle phenomena were occurring in the contracting cardiac muscle , and began to conduct the first observations and studies on animals. Scientists from Europe began working on the creation of a special apparatus or a unique technique for monitoring the work of the heart, and finally the world's first electrocardiograph was created. All this time, science has not stood still, thus, and in the modern world use this unique and already improved apparatus on which they produce the so-called electrocardiography, it is also called abbreviated ECG. About this method of recording the biocurrents of the heart and will be discussed in the article.

ECG procedure

For today it is absolutely painless and accessible to everyone procedure. ECG can be done in almost any medical institution. Consult your family doctor and he will tell you in detail what the procedure is for, how to take an ECG and where you can go in your city.

Short description

Consider the steps of how to remove the ECG. The algorithm is as follows:

1. Preparing the patient for future manipulation. Laying it on the couch, the health worker asks you to relax and not to strain. Remove all unnecessary items, if any, that might interfere with the recording of the cardiograph. Relieve from clothing the necessary areas of the skin.
2. Begin to superimpose the electrodes strictly in a certain sequence and the order of overlapping electrodes.
3. Connect the device to work if all the rules are observed.
4. After the device is connected and ready to go, start recording.
5. Remove the paper with a recorded cardiac electrocardiogram.
6. Give the result of the ECG to the patient or doctor on hand for subsequent decoding.

Preparation for ECG removal

Before you learn how to shoot an ECG, we'll look at what actions need to be taken to prepare the patient.

The ECG device is in every medical institution, it is in a separate room with a couch for the convenience of the patient and the medical staff. The room should be light and cozy, with an air temperature of +22 ... + 24 degrees Celsius. Since it is possible to remove the ECG correctly only under the condition of complete patient calmness, such an environment is very important for carrying out this manipulation.

They place the examinee on a medical couch. In the lying position, the body relaxes easily, which is important for the future recording of the cardiograph and for evaluating the work of the heart itself. Before applying electrodes for ECG, moistened with medical alcohol with a cotton swab, it is necessary to process the desired areas of the patient's hands and feet. Repeated treatment of these areas is carried out with physiological saline or special medical gel intended for these purposes. Patient should remain calm during the recording of the cardiograph, breathe smoothly, moderately, do not worry.

How to remove ECG correctly: application of electrodes

It is necessary to know in what order it is necessary to impose electrodes. For the convenience of personnel carrying out this manipulation, the inventors of the ECG device determined 4 colors for the electrodes: red, yellow, green and black. They are superimposed in this order and in no other way, otherwise the ECG will not be appropriate. To confuse them is simply unacceptable. Therefore, medical personnel who work with the ECG device undergo special training with the subsequent passing of the exam and obtaining an admission or certificate that allows him to work with this device. The healthcare worker in the ECG cabinet, according to his working instructions, must clearly know the locations of the electrodes and correctly execute the sequence.

So, the electrodes for the arms and legs look like big clamps, but do not worry, the clamp is completely painless on the limbs, these clips are of different colors and are superimposed on certain body locations as follows:

• Red is the wrist of the right hand.
• Yellow is the wrist of the left hand.
• Green - the left leg.
• Black - right foot.

Breast electrodes imposition

Thoracic electrodes in our time are of different types, it all depends on the manufacturer of the device itself ECG. They are disposable and reusable. Disposable are more convenient to use, do not leave unpleasant traces of irritation on the skin after removal. But if there are no disposable, then reusable, they are similar in shape to the hemispheres and have the property of sucking. This property is necessary for a clear statement in the right place with the subsequent fixation at the right time.

A medical professional who already knows how to remove the ECG is located to the right of the patient at the couch in order to correctly apply the electrodes. It is necessary, as already said, to pre-treat the skin of the patient's breast with alcohol, then with saline or medical gel. Each thoracic electrode is marked. To make it clearer how to remove the ECG, the electrode overlay scheme is presented below.

We proceed to the imposition of electrodes on the chest:

1. We first find the fourth rib at the patient and place the first electrode under the edge, on which the number 1 stands. In order for the electrode to successfully reach the required place, its suction property must be used.
2. The second electrode is also placed under the 4th rib, only on the left side.
3. Then proceed to imposing not the 3rd, but immediately the 4th electrode. It is superimposed under the 5th edge.
4. The electrode number 3 must be located between the 2 nd and 4 th rib.
5. The 5th electrode is installed on the 5th edge.
6. The 6th electrode is applied at a level from the 5th, but a couple of centimeters closer to the couch.

Before turning on the device for ECG recording, we once again check the correctness and reliability of the applied electrodes. Only after this you can turn on the electrocardiograph. Before this, you need to set the paper speed and adjust other parameters. During recording, the patient must be in a state of complete rest! At the end of the machine, you can take off the paper with the cardiograph recording and release the patient.

We remove the ECG for children

Since there are no age limits for ECG, children can also be removed from ECG. Do this procedure the same way as adults, starting at any age, including the period of newborns (usually at such an early age, ECG is done solely to eliminate suspicions of heart disease).

The only difference between how to remove an ECG for an adult and a child is that the child needs a special approach, he needs to explain and show everything, to calm down if necessary. Electrodes on the body of the child are fixed in the same places as in adults, and should correspond to the age of the child. How to apply electrodes to the electrocardiogram on the body, you are already familiarized. In order not to agitate a small patient, it is important to ensure that the child does not move during the procedure, strongly support it and explain everything that happens.

Very often pediatricians when assigning ECG to children recommend additional tests, with physical activity or with the appointment of a particular drug. These tests are conducted in order to timely detect abnormalities in the work of the child's heart, correctly diagnose a particular heart disease, timely appoint treatment or dispel the fears of parents and doctors.

How to remove the ECG. The scheme

In order to read correctly the recording on the paper tape, which the ECG apparatus gives us at the end of the procedure, it is absolutely necessary to have a medical education. The record should be carefully studied by a doctor - therapist or cardiologist, in order to timely and accurately establish a diagnosis to the patient. So, what can an incomprehensible curve curve tell us about, consisting of prongs, individual segments with intervals? Let's try to figure this out.

The record will analyze how regular the contractions of the heart, will reveal the heart rate, the focus of excitation, the conductive capacity of the heart muscle, the definition of the heart relative to the axes, the state of the so-called heart medulla in medicine.

Immediately after reading the cardiogram, an experienced doctor will be able to diagnose and prescribe a treatment or give the necessary recommendations that will significantly speed up the recovery process or save against serious complications, and most importantly - the time-produced ECG can save a person's life.

It should be taken into account that the cardiogram of an adult differs from a cardiogram of a child or a pregnant woman.

Whether ECG is removed for pregnant women

In what cases are they prescribed to undergo an electrocardiogram of the heart to a pregnant woman? If the patient complains of a chest pain, shortness of breath, large fluctuations in the control of blood pressure, headaches, fainting, dizziness, at the next appointment with the obstetrician-gynecologist, the experienced doctor will most likely prescribe this procedure in time to reject bad suspicions and avoid unpleasant Consequences for the health of the future mother and her baby. There are no contraindications for ECG during pregnancy.

Some recommendations before the planned procedure for ECG

Before taking an ECG, the patient must be instructed about what conditions must be met on the eve and on the day of removal.

• The day before, it is recommended to avoid nervous overstrain, and the duration of sleep should be at least 8 hours.
• On the day of delivery, a small breakfast of food is required, which is easily digested, and it is imperative not to overeat.
• Exclude for 1 day products that affect the work of the heart, such as strong coffee or tea, spicy seasonings, alcoholic beverages, and smoking.
• Do not apply cream and lotions to the skin of the hands, feet, chest cells, the effect of fatty acids of which can worsen the conductivity of the medical gel on the skin before applying the electrodes.
• Absolute calmness is necessary before passing the ECG and during the procedure itself.
• Be sure to exclude physical activity on the day of the procedure.
• Before the procedure itself, it is necessary to sit quietly for about 15-20 minutes, the breathing is calm, uniform.

If the subject has severe shortness of breath, then he needs to undergo an ECG without lying down, and sitting, because it is in this position of the body that the device can clearly record cardiac arrhythmia.

Cardiologists recommend to undergo the procedure to all people, without exception, after 40 years once a year.

Of course, there are conditions in which an ECG can not be performed, namely:

• With acute myocardial infarction.
• Unstable angina.
• Heart failure.
• Some types of arrhythmias are of unknown etiology.
• Severe forms of aortic stenosis.
• The syndrome of PE (pulmonary embolism).
• Stratification of the aortic aneurysm.
• Acute inflammatory diseases of the heart muscle and pericardial muscles.
• Heavy infectious diseases.
• Heavy mental illness.

ECG with mirror arrangement of internal organs

Mirror arrangement of internal organs implies their arrangement in a different order, when the heart is not on the left, but on the right. The same goes for other organs. This is a rather rare phenomenon, nevertheless it occurs. When a patient with a mirror arrangement of internal organs is prescribed to undergo an ECG, he should warn about his specialty to the nurse who will perform this procedure. Young professionals working with people with a mirror arrangement of internal organs, then the question arises: how to remove the ECG? On the right (the removal algorithm is basically the same), the electrodes are placed on the body in the same order that ordinary patients would be placed to the left.

Take care of your health and the health of your loved ones!