Hospital Emergency Departments receive over five million patients a year who complain of chest pain. The amount of litigation, patient injuries, and dollars paid in cases involving the failure to diagnose acute myocardial infarction (MI) is staggering. The majority of adverse outcomes in chest pain cases result from failure to identify critical historical factors and/or failure to correctly evaluate one or a series of electrocardiograms (ECGs). According to the medical literature, up to 25% of all missed acute MI patients would have been diagnosed and/or admitted if the physician had recognized obvious ischemic ECG changes or a significant change in the ECG over time. Practitioners should be experts in ECG evaluation and should be able to identify both obvious and subtle changes of ischemic heart disease.
In this activity, we present and discuss ECGs from a series of cases with a focus on ischemic heart disease. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: evaluate ECGs with an understanding of the common errors made in ECG interpretation in order to improve ECG evaluation and reduce the incidence of the failure to diagnose acute coronary syndrome; apply the guidelines for the management of patients with suspected acute MI regarding ECG testing and interpretation; and identify which patients with ST segment elevation patterns and bundle branch blocks should receive treatment for acute MI.
- Provider:The Sullivan Group
- Activity Link: https://www.thesullivangroup.com/RSQSolutions/course-purchase-home/
- Start Date: 2023-10-16 05:00:00
- End Date: 2023-10-16 05:00:00
- Credit Details: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™️: 2.0 hours
- Commercial Support: No
- Activity Type: Enduring Material
- CME Finder Type: Online Learning
- Fee to Participate: Variable
- Measured Outcome: Learner Competence, Learner Knowledge, Learner Performance, Patient Health
- Provider Ship: Directly Provided
- Registration: Open to all