Read about the latest news on ECG / EKG Machines

One of the most innovative new technologies of the 20th century was the electrocardiogram (EKG machine). Designed for the diagnosis of heart disease, the EKG machine was considered a major advancement in modern medicine. Early EKG machines were much bulkier than today’s lightweight and portable machines, but they work on the same principle – the measurement of the electrical impulses of the heart.

In its early days, the patients were required to place their hands and feet in a sodium chloride bath, since water is a conductive method to detect the electric impulses of the heart. A more accurate method was introduced later with the use of electrical wires, which were later replaced by the electrodes we use today. These modern methods of EKG testing make it much easier to perform, while being safer, more comfortable and accurate.

How is EKG testing done?

A typical EKG test requires a patient to lay on their doctor’s examination table, but some doctors use EKG machines to perform stress tests as well. Here, electrodes are attached to a patient and then they are asked to perform moderate exercise, such as walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike. The results of a stress test will give the doctor a better understanding of how a patient’s heart patterns change during physical activity.

How are EKG tests used to diagnose heart problems?

An EKG machine works by picking up electrical impulses emitted from various points of the body, wherever an electrode is placed. Typically, doctors use a 10-12 electrode test that measures the heart’s impulses as they are graphically output into readable waves. These continuous waves are then amplified and displayed on a monitor or printed out for later interpretation by a physician.

EKG machines can detect an irregular heartbeat, arrhythmia or angina and diagnose the symptoms of heart disease. It can also detect whether the heart’s chamber walls are too thick, determine whether prescribed heart medicines are effective, and check on any implanted heart devices, such as pacemakers.

When the time comes to purchase a new EKG machine for your office or medical center, it may help to consult with those who use it the most. Only they will know which features and functions are missing from your current machine, and help you make the right purchasing decision.

Here are some key features to consider for your next EKG machine:

What size paper does the machine use?

Some EKG machines use 60 mm strips and others use EKG paper in half-sized sheets.
Using even smaller paper, such as the 3×4x1 format, may save money in the long run.
It is possible to buy a machine that uses 8.5 x 11” paper. While the paper costs may be higher, it is easier to handle and file these printouts.

Does the machine come equipped with a keyboard for typing in patient information?
When patient demographics appear on their printout, it gives a more professional-looking EKG reading.
However, in some cases it takes too much time for a nurse to personalize the reading for each patient, so this may be a question for your nursing staff.

Does the EKG machine have a screen?
Most medical professionals prefer to have a screen, since it verifies that all leads are working properly prior to testing. It also ensures that the baseline is stable before testing begins.
Making sure that all twelve leads are visible at once, in real time, eliminates the need to switch screens in order to view them.

Does the machine connect to a computer?
If so, make sure the output is based on a system architecture that is compatible with your EMR and EKG management system.
Be careful – Sometimes EKG machines are made to integrate only with the management software made by that manufacturer.

A PC-based EKG machine will allow you to integrate other diagnostic features, to provide a full picture of a patient’s overall health. These user-friendly machines will also allow you to create a searchable database of all EKGs performed, connect to a patient’s electronic medical record, and email results right from your PC.

The need for mobile EKG machines

Minutes and seconds count when someone is having a heart attack, and medical units in South Carolina are well aware of this fact.  Ever since the invention of mobile EKG machines primarily used in ambulances, emergency medical professionals have been trying to find ways to get them.

This small black machine, with its 12-lead electrocardiograph, can shave twenty minutes or more from the time it would take doctors to diagnose a heart attack.  As a result, all the emergency medical systems in Abbeville, Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties in South Carolina are applying for a grand that would put one of these mobile EKG machines in every ambulance.

Why is it so important to get these machines in every ambulance?

With these mobile units, paramedics could more accurately determine whether a patient is having a heart attack.  By transmitting the patient’s heart readings directly to the hospital emergency room, via Bluetooth, the appropriate lifesaving measures can be taken immediately upon the patient’s arrival at the hospital.

In addition to monitoring the heart’s electrical impulses, these mobile EKG units can also check a patient’s blood oxygen concentration and blood pressure.  Having these new machines would bring these emergency medical services up to South Carolina’s state requirements, enabling them to send information directly to the ER from the ambulance.

Managing Outcomes

According to AnMed Health’s Director of Clinical Outcomes, the average time it takes to get a patient from arrival at the hospital to the balloon valve is 67 minutes.  With mobile EKG machines, 20 minutes or more could be shaved off that time.

Currently, some ambulances in the area use three-lead EKG machines, which can be used to determine an irregular heartbeat, but they cannot show how the heartbeat became irregular, which leaves an additional step for doctors to perform upon the patient’s arrival.

The goal of these grants would be to put a more advanced EKG machine in every mobile lifesaving unit throughout the region.

Modern EKG machines are used to diagnose heart problems and check for abnormal heart rhythms.  By translating line tracings on an electrocardiogram, doctors can interpret the spikes and dips (known as waves) to see a complete picture of the heart’s overall health.

The heart muscle is actually made up of four chambers, which act as a pump.  The two upper chambers are known as “atria” and the two lower chambers are ventricles.  But the heart doesn’t pump properly without a certain amount of electrical stimulus, or impulses.  The body’s natural electrical system is what causes the heart to contract and pump blood to the lungs and through the circulatory system.

An EKG test, or electrocardiogram, is done to:

• Assess the heart’s electrical impulses
• Find the cause of chest pain, which is often caused by a heart attack, pericarditis, or angina.
• Diagnose symptoms of heart disease, including shortness of breath, fainting, dizziness or palpitations.
• Find out if the heart chamber walls are too thick
• Check the effectiveness of heart medicines, and determine if they are causing any side effects
• Check on implanted heart devices, such as pacemakers, to be sure they are working properly
• Perform regular heart check-ups, especially when other conditions are present, like hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, or a family history of heart disease.

Preparing for an EKG test

Some medicines can change the results of the test, so be sure to tell your doctor about any prescription or non-prescription drugs you are taking.  You may need to change your dosage of these medications prior to the test.

EKG machines are usually used only by health professionals, with the results being interpreted by a doctor.  You may receive an EKG as part of an overall physical exam, or during a series of tests at a hospital.  Because EKG machines are often portable, the test can be done almost anywhere.  If you are staying in the hospital, you may be continuously monitored by an EKG system, which is a process called telemetry.

EKG machines have been a vital tool in the medical profession, since their discovery in 1903 by Willem Einthoven. Using the science of electrocardiography (ECG or EKG), these machines are used in healthcare environments to interpret the electrical activity of the heart. By placing external electrodes on the skin, EKG machines use a noninvasive recording technique to graph the rhythms of the heart.
Originating in the sinoatrial node, electrical impulses of the heart travel through an internal conducting system into the heart muscle. These impulses then trigger the myocardial muscle fibers to contract. Electrodes, when placed on different sides of the heart, can measure the activity within different parts of the heart, and then the machine can display the voltage in between each pair of electrodes. Doctors can then read this display to see the overall rhythm of the heart, and diagnose weaknesses in different areas, particularly any abnormalities that may have been caused by damage to conductive tissues. Some abnormal rhythms can be caused by higher levels of dissolved salts, or electrolytes. Or, after a myocardial infarction (heart attack), an EKG machine can identify damaged areas of the heart muscle.
While the EKG can diagnose some important areas of damage, it cannot be used to reliably measure the heart’s pumping ability. For this type of testing, an ultrasound device, known as echocardiography) or nuclear medicine tests are more appropriate.
EKG machines have come a long way since their discovery and can now load images faster, using a higher resolution. They are far more computerized, compact and effective in diagnosing abnormalities of the heart. Today’s machines are often used for diagnosing heart disease and can even point out a heart attack while it is happening.

Medical researchers estimate that up to 35 percent of all Americans suffer at least one episode of Syncope during their lifetime. What is Syncope, you may ask? It is a sudden loss of consciousness, which starts out as light-headedness, weakness and dizziness. While recovery is quick, the signs of onset are unpredictable, which can impair Syncope sufferer’s quality of life.

Since symptoms most often occur when a person’s blood pressure suddenly drops, it is believed that cardiac syncope is the result of a heart abnormality, such as arrhythmia, valve disease, or a blockage.

While Syncope can also be caused by intense anxiety, dehydration, hunger, alcohol and drug use, or other medical conditions, about 20 percent of all cases are heart related. When heart problems are suspected, patients undergo EKG and exercise stress tests and will often wear a 24-hour monitor to record heart rhythms over longer periods of time.

Earlier this year, the FDA approved a tool, known as the Sleuth AT Cardiac Monitoring System, which can help physicians diagnose Syncope. The Sleuth is actually a small EKG recorder, which is smaller than a half-dollar. It is implanted beneath the skin in the upper left chest, and measures the electrical activity of the heart. The recorded information is then stored and retrieved on a Personal Diagnostic Manager, which is a small recorder that can be carried in a handbag or pocket.

Traditional implantable EKG recording devices store information for later retrieval at the doctor’s office, or require manual downloading on a home computer. But the Sleuth makes use of Bluetooth technology to transmit data to a patient’s home base station. From there, the information is transmitted to a monitoring center which is staffed by cardiac technicians, where doctors can access it through a secure web site. Using the Sleuth EKG monitor can assure a patient that their doctor will be alerted immediately of any serious problems.

Another compactly designed specimen from the GE Marquette series of ECG machines, the GE Marquette Mac 5000 Premium Resting ECG Machine is at top of the line interpretive system that combines additional features with the usual functionalities and features that are incorporated by the highly popular Marquette MAC series of machines. As said by the manufacturers, it delivers high performance using advanced capabilities that can be offered only by the most extensive collection of interpretive algorithms used in the ECG machine industry.

It is a highly evolved non invasive testing solution that combines unparalleled hardware technology with a complete suite of networkable software solutions which optimizes output and productivity which makes it ideal for any facility that aspires for a high performing ECG machine.

Its sophisticated advanced functionalities deliver complete solutions for advanced ECG applications and extend a high degree of performance to the largest possible user base. It allows for advanced 12 lead ECG computer analysis and interpretation with P-wave signal averaging, late potential analysis, ACI-TIPI and gender specific interpretational criteria as part of the revolutionary 12 SL trademarked technology from the GE Marquette series for the identification of arrhythmia.

The MAC 5000 is a premier resting ECG system that delivers the most advanced disease diagnostic management application that most machines fall short of achieving. The late potential analysis offers effective management for ventricular and atrial arrhythmia as well as chest pain. It delivers broad based connectivity solutions using the MUSE CV information system for data storage and retrieval of ECG interpretational data.

The backlit LCD screen display is of high resolution and has waveform enhancement capability. It displays data such as heart rate, patient demographics, filter settings, warning and prompts as well as help messages. The interpreted data can be printed out in high resolution using the thermal dot array printer that is inbuilt and works on Z fold paper of A or A4 sizes on Z fold paper.

EKG Machines are used to measure and record any abnormal activity within a patient’s heart. It can detect a multitude of heart ailments in quick time and with ease. The readings are usually recorded as a graph that leaps up and down and describes the electrical action of the heart muscles. The average time taken for a test to be conducted is 5 minutes. The readings can be read only by a trained physician is incomprehensible to a layman.

The Nihon Kohden ECG-1350A Cardio Fax M EKG Machine is a 12 channel recording machine that meets major international performance standards that are prescribed for electrocardiographs on pointers such as accuracy and digital filter performance. It comes with a high clarity LCD display screen which lists the results for review. IT has substantial internal memory which allows for storing of up to 40 ECG files and also allows for huge amounts of data to be stored on external SD memory cards which can be transferred onto a PC using a LAN connection or USB cable. It is compatible with windows based computer systems on which the recorded data can be analyzed and managed using optional ECG viewer software.

The performance delivered by this unit is of exceptionally high standards and is relatively economical. It is also portable and light weight which allows for easy transportation and moving around. First hand machines come with a 4 year warranty and an ECAPS 12C interpretive analysis program. The compact design occupies minimal space and is convenient for small clinics and medical facilities. It also comes with an alphanumeric keyboard that enables data entry and patient information storage and retrieval.

An electrocardiogram is one of the basic diagnostic tools for cardiologists and general physicians. It is the machine used for one of the routinely performed investigations in almost all hospitals, and physicians well know how desperate they become when the EKG machine doesn’t work properly. Yes, the ECG taken can be one of the most valuable tools to diagnose impending heart attacks, tachycardia, arrhythmia’s, etc. After an initial study is gained on the patients’ health through ECG or EKG, the physician then advises further tests or investigations.

It is no wonder then that EKG machines have to be in great shape at all times. Many physicians therefore like to purchase EKG machines only from reputable companies so that they can be assured of the durability, they also seek to take advantage of the many attractive sales offers and good after sales service options. Let’s see some of the top-selling EKG machines:

1) Cardioline Inc: this is one of the oldest manufacturers of medical equipment and the brand is no doubt trustworthy. Along with EKG machines, Cardioline Inc also manufactures stress testing systems, defibrillators, holter monitoring systems, and related accessories.

2) Burdick: This is also one of the oldest companies supplying EKG machines to many US hospitals. The brand has set definite standards for building EKG machines and related medical equipment. Many other cardio-pulmonary diagnostic test tools are designed by the company.

3) Philips Medical Systems: being one of the strong competitors in medical equipment manufacturing, Philips offers wide range of options. Philips is synonymous with fast, efficient, and accurate diagnostic tools. The standard and best medical equipment have been manufactured by Philips. Their product range includes: Xray machines, ultrasound machines, CT scan machines, monitoring equipment, radiation oncology systems, resuscitation products, and EKG machines.

Thus, if you are interested in brand new models of EKG machines or any other medical equipment, you should opt for good companies to give you the best deals. If you are tight on budget, look out for re-modeled second-hand machines that are well maintained.

Because heart disease is so prevalent, an EKG machine is an essential piece of equipment for the medical practitioner. The EKG, or electrocardiogram, machine measures the electrical activity of the heart. Electrical impulses cause the heart muscles to contract, which causes the heart to beat. Pacemakers supply the electrical impulses when your body cannot do it for you naturally.

If you need to choose an EKG machine, here are some features you should evaluate.

What kind of paper does the machine use? The classic EKG result is a printed strip, but some machines use standard 8.5” x 11” pieces of paper. Standard paper may be less expensive and is easier to store in a patient’s chart.

Can you enter demographic data? Some EKG machines have keyboards that allow you to enter the patient’s name on the report. While that gives a more professional result and makes it easier to make sure the report gets and stays with the right chart, it takes time to key in that personal information. If you may need your machine for emergency use, make sure you can bypass entering that personal data.

Does the machine have a screen so you can see the results before they’re printed? If not, you’ll have to print results to verify that all leads are properly placed. Ideally your screen will show all leads on the screen at once, and give real time results.

What kind of computer integration does the EKG machine provide? Ideally you want to be able to download results into any system you already own including electronic medical records. A machine that only works with proprietary software may not communicate as well, and may be more expensive. You also want to be able to evaluate your EKG findings in concert with other diagnostic tests such as stress testing and Holter monitoring.