Telemetry question for a VERY new grad

[k8dubcoran]

So today was day 2 of my first job, im the first to admit i came out of school being a slacker and not knowing squat, so im not surprised that i dont know anything. But this question is really bugging me. My patients are all on Telemetry, so why would one patient be ordered a stat EKG? isnt that what Tele is?? theres a gigantic piece of this puzzle im not getting. someone help please!

[BlueEyedRN]

They are ordering a 12-lead ecg which gives a much more detailed picture of the rhythm than the standard 5-lead tele. There may be problems or changes in an area of the heart that is not covered by tele.

[Morettia2, BSN, RN]

12 lead=STAT EKG and a 12 lead can give you an insant feedback on the print out so you don't have to fumble around trying to measure intervals or trying to find calipers. Just practice your 12 lead ekg's, it's easy to put a 5 lead on a pt. the tele packs have an illustration on them..but when you have never done a 12 lead you are looking at all of the leads saying...what the ****, and when you have inverted waves, b/c you put the leads on backwards or upsidedown the MD's look at the EKG and say, ummm..just practice

[suanna]

Tele is largely for ectopy management and rhythm evaluation. A 12 lead gives you a picture of the hearts conduction from every direction and is much more capable of discerning ischemia as well as ventricular or atrial hypertrophy. A perfectly normal lead II on tele could be having BAD ST elevation/infarction in V4-V6-invisible to the tele. EKG are also much more standardized in scale. Turning up the gain can make a normal tele strip look like you are on the edge of a code.