Reading the ECG: The Whole Trace, In Order

What this deck covers

Reading the ECG: The Whole Trace, In Order in twelve illustrated clinical cases with worked explanations – case presentations built around clinical images, radiology, teaching illustrations and real laboratory data, with the reference range beside every value a case quotes. This visual, data-interpretation style of practice suits candidates preparing for MRCPCH AKP in particular, alongside Saudi and Gulf licensing examinations such as the Arab Board, DHA and OMSB. Each case gives you a clinical vignette, four options, the correct answer, and an explanation of why each of the other three is wrong.

The twelve cases, in order

1. Before a single wave is read
2. Why the order is always the same
3. What that order actually is
4. The finding that was not looked for
5. Stopping at the first thing found
6. Setting the report out
7. The line you cannot fill in
8. Before reaching for an adjective
9. The thing a report cannot omit
10. What the machine printed at the top
11. Which part answers a rhythm question
12. What ten seconds cannot tell you

What this deck teaches

• The corner before the waves. Whose trace it is, when it was taken, the paper speed and the calibration mark. Every measurement below depends on those four things.
• The same order, every single time. Rate, rhythm, axis, intervals, then the waves. An order that never changes is what stops the reading depending on what happens to catch the eye.
• The obvious finding is not the last one. A trace is finished when it has been read through, not when something has been found. Stopping at the first abnormality is how the second is missed.
• Measure before you use an adjective. Wide, long, tall and depressed are all conclusions from numbers. Take the number first and the adjective follows from it.
• The age belongs in the report. Almost every threshold on a paediatric trace moves with age, so a report without an age cannot be checked by the person reading it next.
• Findings, then interpretation, kept apart. What is on the paper and what you think it means are two different statements, and the next reader needs to be able to disagree with the second.

Exam pearls from this deck

• Everything below the corner depends on what is written in it.
• The order is the same for a normal trace and for an alarming one.

The twelve worked cases in this deck, with the images and the full explanation of every option, are part of Pediatric Case Review membership. See what is included, or start with the free Pediatric Exam Review Sets.

More from this system: all cardiology illustrated case decks · cardiology board questions for bank-style drilling · the free Pediatric Exam Review Sets · pediatric reference values.