Cardiac Science Atria 3100, Operating Instructions Manual

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Recognizing and Reducing ECG Artifacts
70-00082-01 A Atria Electrocardiograph Operating Instructions 10-5
Recognizing and Reducing ECG Artifacts
OVERLOAD message
Defibrillating the patient will interfere with the Atria sensors and may
result in loss of the trace or erratic trace deflections. The
OVERLOAD
message indicates the waveforms may not be accurate.
An overload condition may also be caused by:
• Dried out electrodes
• Improperly prepared skin
• Improperly applied electrodes, with poor skin contact
• Dirty electrodes
The condition must be corrected before the overload condition clears.
Rapid, large and erratic deflections
A broken wire in the patient lead or a poorly applied sensor may cause
rapid, large and erratic trace deflections.
Motion artifact
Patient movement and muscle tremor may result in abnormal traces. To
minimize this artifact, toggle the artifact filter to 40 Hz, using the
[9]
key.
In addition, try to gain the patient’s cooperation in staying very relaxed and
still. Sometimes, somatic tremor is unavoidable but its effects may be
minimized by having the patient place his/her hands under the buttocks.
Figure 10-1
Somatic Tremor and
Patient Movement Artifact