Cardiac tech

[Lusin]

Hello,

What education is needed for being able to perform 12 lead ECG ? ( place 12 leads and printout the strip)

There is one day class here that gives a certificate at the end of the day, and 63 hours certificate course. Which one to choose for that simple task?

Also, would I be able to work as a cardiac monitor technician at Telemetry unit or I need more education?

Thanks

[Bbett, MSN, NP]

Are you talking about when working as an aide/assistant/CNA? We do 12 lead EKG without ever having any training on it. I work on a cardiac floor as a nurse assistant.

[Lusin]

Thank you , [COLOR=#003366]bayliedynell. No I will start to work as a HUC in the hospital, but they say to enhance my resume, and to be hireable, I should have some additional certificates, like a cardiac technician, for example. That is why I am asking, if I will attend that one day training, would I be able to perform it?

[hgwalter91]

I was trained on the job to do ekgs as an aid. No certificate required just a couple of sign offs by coworkers. It really does add to your resume though if you confidently know how to do a ekg.

Good luck!

[Lusin]

When you were training as an aid, was it hard to learn the EKG?

[LynM75]

When I was an aid we had a classroom day for ekg training, it was about 4-6 hrs. Not hard, just something new to learn, which always caused me anxiety.

[Lusin]

And after that training you were able to do the EKG easily and printout the strip? All easy? Do they require from you to understand in depth what is going on with the patient's heart?

[hgwalter91]

Performing the ekg is super easy. As an RN now we will look at the strips during the shift, but a 12 lead is seen by the nurse, but diagnosed by the doctor. As nurses and aids we do not diagnose. If you want to get further knowledge about reading ekgs just look up like the top ten most common strips and that will give you a baseline of knowledge, but you are not the one telling the patient what is wrong.

Hope this helps.

[hgwalter91]

I could not find a good ekg map online, but our machine at the hospital has a button with color coded dots on it to match up on where to put each lead. It's that easy.

[Bbett, MSN, NP]

It is extremely easy to learn. As soon as someone shows you once you will remember. Each of the 12 leads are numbered with exactly where you put them, then you literally press one button and it's done.

[Lusin]

It helps, thank you.

[Paws2people]

I was trained on the job to do ekgs as an aid. No certificate required just a couple of sign offs by coworkers. It really does add to your resume though if you confidently know how to do a ekg.

Good luck!

Same here. We did a handful of them, took a quick class, and that's it.

After we complete the EKG, it gets handed off to the nurse and a copy is sent to the doctor. The doctor interprets it. So to answer your question OP, it's not hard to learn. Just placement of the stickers and leads, then hitting a button on the actual machine.