Cardiac Telemetry Monitoring

What is telemetry monitoring?

Cardiac telemetry monitoring is a way to get facts about your heart’s electrical activity continuously in a hospital’s cardiac telemetry unit. It collects data from a device that uses electrodes a healthcare provider sticks on your chest. Providers can look at the readings to find abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Alarms alert providers to dangerous heart rhythms.

There are many different abnormal heart rhythms. Some are more dangerous than others. Cardiac telemetry monitoring helps a provider identify the kind of abnormal heart rhythm you have. They can use this information to choose a treatment to get your heart back to a normal rhythm.

When is bedside/telemetry monitoring typically used?

Healthcare providers use cardiac telemetry monitoring to get continuous readings from your heart while you’re in the hospital. They use this when they need to know about your heart’s rhythms for up to 30 days. This gives them a better idea about what your heart is doing over time. Other monitors (mostly used at home) like a Holter monitor only track your heart’s electrical activity for up to two days.

Why would someone have a telemetry monitor?

You may need cardiac telemetry if you:

• Have chest pain or heart palpitations.
• Have possible abnormal heart rhythms.
• Had a heart attack.
• Had a stroke.
• Fainted.
• Have a blood clot in your body.
• Had a collapsed lung (pneumothorax).
• Had surgery that required anesthesia.
• Are in a coma.

How does telemetry monitoring work?

Sensors on your skin send data through wires to a device. This device transmits the readings to a display monitor through a cable or wireless connection. A healthcare provider or telemetry monitor technician watches the screen in another room of the hospital. They can alert a provider if they see an abnormal heart rhythm.

Mobile cardiac telemetry sends information through WiFi or cell phone networks. This type of device may be in a necklace pendant, a patch or a belt on your chest. You can use this type of monitor at home.

What should I expect before cardiac telemetry monitoring?

A healthcare provider will:

1. Clean your skin and remove hair from areas where electrodes will go.
2. Stick electrodes to the skin in certain areas of your chest and stomach. Each electrode may look like a square of sticky plastic with a metal nub that could snap into something else.
3. Connect a wire to each snap-like nub. These wires feed into a device that may fit into the chest pocket of your hospital gown. This device communicates with a display monitor.

What should I expect during telemetry monitoring?

Cardiac telemetry monitoring is painless, but the sticky patches may irritate your skin.

You may hear an alarm go off at times. The reasons for this vary. Sometimes, an alarm goes off because of the way you move or due to a poor signal when the device is sending data. Changing the electrode patches daily can help prevent these false alarms.

Other alarms indicate an abnormal heart rhythm. If this happens, a provider will come to your room to evaluate you.

What should I expect after telemetry monitoring?

When your provider has the information they need from cardiac telemetry monitoring, they’ll disconnect the wires and remove the sticky patches. You may have some sticky residue on your skin that you’ll need to wash off when you go home.

What are the disadvantages of telemetry monitoring?

Risks or disadvantages of telemetry monitoring include:

• You or a provider may need to replace the electrodes with new ones daily.
• You may have discomfort (like skin reactions to the electrodes) when wearing the device.
• A provider may place the electrodes incorrectly or misinterpret your results.

What are the benefits of telemetry monitoring?

Cardiac telemetry monitoring has these benefits:

• Getting data about your heart rhythms in real-time without doing repeated tests.
• Catching an abnormal heart rhythm that a short-term test may miss.
• Helping a provider diagnose electrical issues early on by providing the data they need.
• Letting a provider know that you’re in pain (even if you’re unable to tell them).
• Easing your concerns with the knowledge that alarms go off when needed and a provider is watching for heart rhythm issues.

What type of results do you get and what do the results mean?

If your provider finds an abnormal heart rhythm, they’ll tell you the name of it. They’ll explain what it means and how they can treat it. If your provider doesn’t find an abnormal heart rhythm, they’ll tell you. They may suggest other tests to find the cause of your symptoms.

When should I know the results of telemetry monitoring?

Because telemetry monitoring is constant, you may get results any time you have an abnormal heart rhythm during the monitoring period. If you don’t have any abnormal heart rhythms, you may not get results until the monitoring time ends.

If the results are abnormal, what are the next steps?

If you need treatment for an abnormal heart rhythm, your provider may prescribe medication that manages your heart rate or prevents arrhythmia.

Other treatments may include:

• Different habits, like avoiding tobacco products and caffeine.
• Procedures to bring back a normal rhythm or prevent irregular heart signals from causing trouble.
• Devices like a pacemaker to help your heart keep a normal heart rate and rhythm.
• Surgery to fix the problem that’s causing your arrhythmia.

When should I call my doctor?

Contact your healthcare provider if you’re having trouble with the mobile cardiac telemetry monitor. You should also let them know if you continue to have symptoms of a possible arrhythmia.

What do nurses do in cardiac telemetry?

Nurses’ duties in cardiac telemetry may include:

• Cleaning and shaving a person’s skin and placing electrodes on it.
• Replacing electrodes with new ones every day.
• Changing batteries in a telemetry device.
• Helping someone after their monitor’s alarm sounds.
• Contacting another healthcare provider about an alarm.
• Managing a central monitoring station.
• Explaining telemetry to people in their care.

Is telemetry the same as cardiac monitoring?

Yes. When healthcare providers talk about telemetry, it’s the same as cardiac monitoring. A telemetry unit in a hospital cares for people who need constant monitoring of their heart.

What’s the difference between telemetry and an EKG?

An electrocardiogram (EKG) only takes a reading of your heart rhythm for a few seconds. It can only show what’s happening in your heart during that short time. Cardiac telemetry monitoring lets providers gather more information over a longer period of time.