A Simple, 3-Step Approach to ECGs

Gregg M. Griffenhagen, DVM, MS, DACVAA, anesthesiologist and clinical instructor at Colorado State University, gives a simple, 3-step approach to better understand an electrocardiogram (ECG).

Basic monitoring for anesthesia tends to include an ECG. These machines give us a lot of information, Dr. Griffenhagen says, but over time we tend to start ignoring them. There's a very simple, 3-step approach: P waves, QRS complexes, are they associated and are they wide. This approach gives you the basic set of information—here's what I see, here's how I should treat it—and then you can move on, he says.