Simplifying ECG interpretation

ECG or known as EKGs, Electrocardiograms are one of the essential tools for rapid diagnosis and treatment in A/E settings. Ever since Cardiovascular disease related deaths have been on the climb, ECG have proved very vital in detecting Cardiac conditions and allowing health professionals to give quick appropriate treatment.

Yet ECGs are a big headache to Students, who are still a novice to it.
Everyone of us trying to their best to evade reading on how to interpret it, after hours of reading different short books on it turned futile. Most of us forget are dazed, leaving us in a tangled knot not easy to release. With so much frustration of having it simplified in our minds, most of us just avoid it all together untill Exams. Then in the exams its the same old story that has to repeat, A few facts of ECG hold up in our minds in a cloudy understanding which soon blur away beacuse none of us bother to actually apply and practice them on Clinical grounds.

We were asked to buy several books on understanding ECGs.
As students we want to look for a quick recipe and a book as small as possible.
ECG Made Easy was our first catch. But the books actually should have been named ECG made horribly confusing.

After having ruched and glanced through several books on ECG, I finally came across “Rapid Interpretation of EKGs” by Dale Dubin. Without any exaggeration of how simple and good it is, let me just put it simple – Its Amazing!

The book looks a little bulky, but have no fear. It consists of extremely simplified explanation of ECGs,
Every page is dawned with an explanatory graphic representation, and a few lines on it follow.
It touches the core, from electrophysiology of the heart, to Anatomy, and the very basis of electric potential that is set up causing the waves that we actually see recorded on the ECG strip. The Author captures your imagination in to his simplified diagrams and even in the text he allows use to have your mind with the book with several blanks in the sentences for you to guess, making sure you read it only with your full concentration in to it.
One may complete reading the entire book in a days time, perhaps 4-6 hours for those who are incessant vicious readers. For some one like me, I read it in in a span of few days interspersed with other readings that I had to do on regular basis.
An hour or two a day, you will have it finished in 3-4 days, then you can come back to it for a second read to grab and reinforce your memory, or you may go to some other books on ECGs. having read this, others will be a popper for you.
You may just speed through other books as your understanding is already embeded.

Mind you, keep lookin and practice interpreting several ECG strips on your Clinic hours.
Else all you read will just fade away. ECG strips should now be your regualr daily work.
To master them will take you some time. I am still practicing.

You can buy Dale Dubin’s book online http://www.emergencyekg.com/ , or search it in your University Library.
Unfortunately my library has only one copy, but I have made a request to have more copies.

Wow!! – This post of mine has received more than 1,533 hits already. (9/7/2008)
OK for those guys looking to have some preview of this book before you actually purchase,
I found limited preview of this book on Google book Search.
You can preview first 71 pages of the book.. its cool. Go ahead and have a look.

~ by Dr.Zhivago on January 5, 2008.