A REVIEW OF QUALITY CONTROL IN ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY AND THE NEED FOR FOCUSED TRAINING AND CONTINUING EDUCATION OF PROFESSIONALS INVOLVED IN THE RECORDING OF ROUTINE ECGS

The ECG is one of the most widely used, operator-dependent investigations in healthcare.
Incorrect positioning of ECG electrodes, erroneous connection of ECG leads and varying patient postures during ECG acquisition can significantly affect an ECG recording.
With an estimated 300 million ECGs performed every year there is clearly a need for accurate recording.
The literature reports that up to 4% of all ECGs are recorded incorrectly resulting in 33% of ECG interpretations containing errors when compared to the expert reference and consequently up to 11% result in inappropriate management (Salerno et al., 2003). The significance of these statistics cannot be underestimated, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashing every other day would not equal this number of people enduring pain or dying (Mele, 2007).
Most textbooks and ECG learning media devote little attention to inadequate ECG recordings, meaning the first encounter a novice experiences of challenges to ECG interpretation is during clinical scenarios with actual patients.