Hi, Welcome to Medicine with Dr. Moran. This video is about Cardiac Monitoring.
The first question is what is cardiac monitoring? Well thanks for asking.
It's a test that's often called a Holter Monitor so you'll often hear about this
called a Holter Monitor as opposed to a Cardiac Monitor.
It's actually named after a physicist who invented the test
Norman Holter back in 1949. it's essentially an Ambulatory ECG test.
Meaning that you get an ECG and you can wear the monitor for a
period of time while we can see what your ECG is doing.
We typically get two or three leads in my laboratory.
You can monitor people for 28 to 48
hours and even much longer periods such as up to a month. It allows us to
look at the speed of the heart or any rhythm disorders that could be
present. It also allows us to see what the heart rhythms do
doing during any symptoms that you might have.
This is a test that we often use to evaluate patient symptoms of
lightheadedness palpitations and fainting.
What is the process when you come to the lab for the monitoring?
When you come to my laboratory it's important that you remember that the
appointment time has been reserved for you
and the technician that will put on the monitor. If for some reason you can't
attend please be respectful and call the office to reschedule.
If you're a man who has a lot of chest hair ideally it's best if the chest hair
is shaved from the rib cage the lower rib cage all the way up to the neck.
This is likely only in a small number of men.
The whole point is is that the electrodes may not stick properly
if they're sticking to hair and it's uncomfortable when you take off these
electrodes. We want to make sure there's good
electrode contact with the skin. We tell people not to apply lotions or
baby oil to their chest for 24 hours before or
again the electrodes may not stick well. On the day of the test when you arrive
for the procedure the procedure itself will be reviewed
with you by my staff. You'll be asked to sign the patient
information form giving consent if you've read and understand what we're
doing and that you wish to have the test
performed. What happens next? We bring people
into a private room of course and that's where the monitoring
electrodes are applied to the chest. The electrodes then are hooked up to
wires that lead to a small monitoring pack that will be concealed under your
clothing. You will go home with the monitor and so
please take good care of it.
You'll receive a diary sheet which has all the instructions on it that you need
to know. You have to remember that the diary is
an essential part of the monitor. If you have any symptoms such as
lightheadedness, dizziness, palpitations where the hearts fluttering
or skipping beats or flip-flopping as some patients call
it, chest pain, shortness of breath press the large
button on the recorder. That's important because that puts a
time stamp and a particular spot
that i know when i read the actual data
that you have pushed the button and I can take a look around that time
to see if there's any abnormalities. Now when you push the big button you
want to make sure you make a diary entry as well.
So you want to say the time that you had the symptoms,
how long the symptoms lasted, what kind of symptoms you had.
This is crucial as it allows us to directly compare the symptoms you had
with the ECG tracings at the exact same time they
were recorded.
Is there anything else that you should do? It's important when people wear these
monitors they're a piece of electrical equipment of course and so you shouldn't
shower, get the leads wet, obviously swim, use an
electric blanket, or sweat profusely. Sweating can
mean that the electrodes don't stick well and we get sub optimal quality
tracings. If there are any problems with the leads please call my office.
On the diary there's actually a diagram of where the leads and the electrodes go
so that if one does come off you can easily replace it.
You can use any kind of tape to tape the electrode down on your chest wall
and keep it in place that's not a problem.
Please follow normal activities including work, meals, driving,
sleep, exercise, and obviously exercise without significant sweating.
You can take your medications do not remove or disturb or scratch the
electrodes on your chest.
What should you do when the monitoring period is done?
To complete the monitor press the two outside buttons on our monitor for five
seconds. You can then remove all of the
electrodes then place it in a bag and return the monitor to a staff member in
my office after the monitoring period is over.
The memory card inside the monitor is then downloaded for review.
My staff
will tell me when they've done that and I will have an opportunity to
look over the data over the period of time that you've been monitored
and correlate your symptoms to anything that you may have had.
Once I've had a look at all the data I will create a report
and then i will send a secure report to your health care provider.
Thank you for watching this video on cardiac monitoring.
I hope this has been helpful to you knowing what it might be like to have
this done this is why I'm making these videos
for my patients so they have an idea of what the different tests that we do here
in my laboratory and other tests and procedures that I do.
Thanks again for joining us.