When I was in my second training hospital, I remember that I was asked to conduct ECG on the patient who was having chest pains. “Oh no! I don’t know how to take an ECG!” I thought. Good thing, my co-trainee who was with me knows how. And so I asked for her help. After that scenario, I promised myself to learn everything about electrocardiogram. That is why I enrolled in this Basic ECG Workshop.

image from: myprivategp.com

If you look at the ECG strip above and if you do not have any knowledge about electrocardiogram, I am sure you’ll just say, “Ohmygee! What is that supposed to mean?” or “Holy shit! What does this strip imply?“Honestly, I did say that too before I enrolled the workshop. Although there are some waves that I particularly know but trying to interpret it is really a glitch for me.

The ECG workshop did help me to appreciate ECG. I may not be able to diagnose yet, but somehow I can now understand what it is trying to say like if the patient is tachycardic/bradycardic or if the patient’s status is fatal or if there’s a heart block. Anyways, we had a post test yesterday as a form of self-evaluation. I am proud to say that I got the highest score (or one of the highest) in the group. :) That means, I did learn in the workshop, I am getting better and I have really improved.

Continuing education is really important not just for nurses, but also for everyone. It helps us to enhance our basic knowledge and learn more about stuffs related to our course that wasn’t taught in school. I know that sometimes we tend to get lazy in studying but I advise you that once in a while, you enroll yourself in classes or seminars not to make your resume thicker but to widen the things you already know.