User Manual

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
PatientNet Operator’s Manual, v1.04, 10001001-00X, Draft 233
All information contained herein is subject to the rights and restrictions on the title page.
Ectopic Beat - contraction that occurs from an impulse generated from a site other
than the sinoatrial node. e.g. premature atrial contraction, premature junctional con-
traction, and premature ventricular contraction.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) - the graphic display of the electrical activity of the heart
generated by the depolarization and repolarization of the atria and ventricles. The
ECG includes the QRS complex, the P, T, and U waves, the P-R, ST, and T-P seg-
ments, and the P-R, Q-T, and R-R intervals.
Electrode - a sensing device that detects electrical activity such as that of the heart.
Escape Beat - a QRS complex arising in an escape, or secondary, pacemaker when
the underlying rhythm slows to less than the escape, or secondary, pacemaker’s inher-
ent firing rate.
Failure to Capture - the pacemaker fires, but no QRS follows.
Failure to Sense - the pacemaker is unaware of the patient’s intrinsic electrical activ-
ity and is firing on its own.
Feature Extraction - an aspect of arrhythmia analysis. Similar to template matching,
feature extraction compares beats based on a series of characteristics. This algorithm
measures a set of features: height, width, polarity, the area under the curve, and the
fiducial point for each new beat and compares these features to those of the template.
Full Disclosure - this feature stores all of the transmitted waveforms and digital data
for up to 24 hours for all ambulatory and bedside monitored patients. From the View
screen, the stored waveforms and data are available for review. The full disclosure
may be printed in a 1-hour report, 24-hour report, 24-hour summary report, and
zoomed-in report format. These reports contain the time, clinical data, and available
waveforms. The full disclosure may be annotated with alarm violations and beat anno-
tations. (PN)
Fusion Beats - a ventricular complex unlike the QRS complexes of the underlying
rhythm and those of the ventricular arrhythmia in a given ECG lead, having features
of both. This results from the stimulation of the ventricles by two electrical impulses,
one originating in the SA node or an ectopic focus in the atria, or AV junctions and the
other an ectopic focus in the ventricles. A fusion beat can occur in accelerated idio-
ventricular rhythm (AIVR), a pacemaker rhythm, a premature ventricular contractions
(PVCs), and ventricular tachycardia. (PN)
History - the events stored in the files of admitted patients, each file can store up to
100 events for the entire length of stay. Whenever an event is stored either manually or
automatically, all vital information and the available waveforms are saved in the
patient’s history file. The History Blackboard screen lists the stored events, which the
operator may view, measure, archive, and print. (PN)
Infarct - death (necrosis) of tissue caused by the interruption of the blood supply to
the affected cardiac tissue, myocardial infarction.
Ischemia - starvation of the myocardium for blood (oxygen) due to occlusion of a cor-
onary blood vessel.
Isoelectric Line - the flat line in an ECG recording during which electrical activity is
absent.