BTS – The importance of an EKG

“It’s a lot easier to determine going from normal to abnormal than to determine abnormal to more abnormal.” Michael Hibbard, M.D. talks about the importance of technology in maximizing the benefit of the prehospital 12-lead ECG. Many patients have baseline abnormalities such as bundle branch blocks, conduction defects, or persistent ST-elevation from previous heart attacks. [...]

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“It’s a lot easier to determine going from normal to abnormal than to determine abnormal to more abnormal.”

Michael Hibbard, M.D. talks about the importance of technology in maximizing the benefit of the prehospital 12-lead ECG. Many patients have baseline abnormalities such as bundle branch blocks, conduction defects, or persistent ST-elevation from previous heart attacks.

ECG transmission allows the receiving hospital to “leverage electronic medical records” to pull the patient’s old ECG and see if there’s a change.

The reality is that too few hospitals are using the prehospital 12-lead ECG to its full potential but one can’t help but believe that it’s being done right at Avera McKennan, home of eEmergency, eICU, eConsult and ePharmacy.

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