EKG

Electrocardiography, also referred to as EKG or ECG testing, is a noninvasive test that records the electrical activity of the heart.   An EKG/ECG can establish a baseline evaluation of a person’s heart and investigate newly developing symptoms, such as shortness of breath, chest pain, or palpitations. 

During an EKG/ECG, electrical signals from each heartbeat are transmitted form electrodes on the patent’s skin to a machine that creates a graph of the rhythm and rate of the heartbeat.

EKG/ECG helps physicians evaluate the following:

• arrhythmias

• chest pain

• myocardial infarctions (heart attacks)

• structural heart problems

• metabolic or hemodynamic changes

• a patient’s response to therapy

• pacemaker monitoring

What To Expect

To prepare you for the test, staff will cleanse the areas that will have electrodes attached with alcohol to ensure good electrical contact with the EKG electrode. In men with hairy chest, small areas may have to be shaved to allow adequate skin contact with the electrode. Small sticky electrodes are then applied to the patient's chest, arms and legs. However, with some systems, the electrodes may be applied to the chest, shoulders and the sides of the lower chest, or hips. Wires are then used to connect the patient to an EKG machine.  These electrodes and wires record the heart’s electrical impulses and transmit them to the machine.

You will be asked to remain very still while a nurse or technician records the EKG. The electrical activity created by the patient's heart is processed by the EKG machine and then printed on a special graph paper. It takes a few minutes to apply the EKG electrodes, and one minute to make the actual recording.