Whether a patient has undergone a simple resting ECG or long term event monitoring which often lasts up to 30 days, patients share a similar complaint, skin irritation.  At one time or another  it seems every doctor’s office, scanning service, hospital and cardiologist has received the dreaded patient call claiming they are sporting a blister, raw red skin, or sores.  The question we need to ask ourselves is WHY patients being adversely affected, and WHAT can we do about it? 

In the past we have all found it easy to blame the electrode and assume that it is the electrode itself causing skin irritation, however we have learned that there are other factors to take into account and hopefully moving forward, these issues are given consideration.   Did you ever wonder why there are so many different types of electrodes?  There are literally hundreds on the market today and each possesses a diverse set of properties.  As we know every patient is different and some patients may have special needs.  Electrodes are designed for a specific purpose, to meet these special needs.  With that in mind what we could start asking ourselves is, was it our choice of electrode rather than the electrode itself that is responsible for our patients’ skin irritation.  

Below outlines some examples of patient/procedure types with skin characteristics that may prove challenging when it comes to ECG monitoring.

Also view a variety of Electrodes <Here>