The ECG trace has a lot of interference and the machine is reporting a muscle tremor.
The quality of an ECG trace depends on a few factors but one of the biggest is patient comfort and relaxation. If the patient is tense, struggling to relax, or is in an uncomfortable position this is reflected by interference on the ECG. This Is known as muscle tremor.
There are a few things you can try to mitigate the problem and reduce the interference.
1. Wherever possible attempt to adjust the bed or patient position to make them as comfortable as possible.
2. If the patient is elderly, very muscular, or struggling to relax their limbs and you are using the wrist and ankle limb lead positions, consider moving those attachments to the hips and clavicle. This focuses on much stiller parts of the body that patients have an easier time relaxing.
3. Avoid advising the patient to remain ‘Still’. Most patients will take this to mean go rigid and at this point tense up. Instead, try advising the patients ‘Go Floppy’. This causes the patient to release any tension.
4. This machine does have an inbuilt muscle filter which will desensitise the machine to this kind of interference. We don’t usually recommend using option, because desensitising the machine can mask some conditions from appearing on the ECG, but you are free to use this as a last resort option. To Access the muscle filter, while viewing the ECG trace press ‘F4’ for more options and then ‘F1’ becomes the filter. Press this button until you see ‘100Hz’.
Evidently if the patient is nervous and struggling to relax while having an ECG taken then you may still get a little interference, you may want to seek clinical guidance if this continues to be an issue.
There are a few things you can try to mitigate the problem and reduce the interference.
1. Wherever possible attempt to adjust the bed or patient position to make them as comfortable as possible.
2. If the patient is elderly, very muscular, or struggling to relax their limbs and you are using the wrist and ankle limb lead positions, consider moving those attachments to the hips and clavicle. This focuses on much stiller parts of the body that patients have an easier time relaxing.
3. Avoid advising the patient to remain ‘Still’. Most patients will take this to mean go rigid and at this point tense up. Instead, try advising the patients ‘Go Floppy’. This causes the patient to release any tension.
4. This machine does have an inbuilt muscle filter which will desensitise the machine to this kind of interference. We don’t usually recommend using option, because desensitising the machine can mask some conditions from appearing on the ECG, but you are free to use this as a last resort option. To Access the muscle filter, while viewing the ECG trace press ‘F4’ for more options and then ‘F1’ becomes the filter. Press this button until you see ‘100Hz’.
Evidently if the patient is nervous and struggling to relax while having an ECG taken then you may still get a little interference, you may want to seek clinical guidance if this continues to be an issue.
Join Remote Support
Join live Chat
You can chat to one of our technical support team Monday – Friday 8.00am – 5.30pm. |