AUTHORS
Marta Nohales Valiente
María Domínguez Gimeno
KEY WORDS
ECG with 12 leads, Electrocardiogram, Electrocardiography, Right electrocardiogram, Posterior electrocardiogram, Nursing.
ABSTRACT
Introduction. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a procedure by which the electrical activity of the heart is recorded. This is made possible by placing electrodes at certain strategic points on the chest and on the upper and lower limbs. It is in the Coronary Care Unit where, in addition to the ECG of the left side of the heart (ECG-L), the ECG of the right side (ECG-R) and the posterior side (ECG-P) are also used, in order to rule out other locations of an infarction, such as a right ventricular infarction (RVI).
Goals. To show the performance of 12-lead ECG modalities other than the traditional ECG (L-ECG) and to list the nursing competencies explicit in the documents selected.
Method. Systematised literature review. Term: “Electrocardiography AND Myocardial Infarction OR Acute Coronary Syndrome AND Critical care NOT children.” The main biases identified in this study were selection and publication bias.
Results and discussion. Twelve articles were selected for analysis. The variables used to tabulate the information were author, year, journal, country and language, among others. With regard to the other variables, the sociodemographic/health profile, the type of ECG and nursing competencies were used
Conclusions. There is evidence of three different ECG modalities that assess the electrical activity of the heart from different anatomical points, and which show the functioning of the “electrical cable” cardiac conduction system. Among the main nursing competencies that are used in techniques/procedures, the early assessment of ECG alterations stands out, given the need for rapid treatment in these cases as it is a time-dependent pathology.