Arrhythmia Learning/Relearning 4 ECG and Arrhythmia Monitoring
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Arrhythmia Learning/Relearning
When arrhythmia monitoring starts, a “learning” process is initiated. The goal is to learn the patient's
normal complexes and/or paced complexes (if the patient with an internal/transvenous pacemaker is in
paced rhythm). The learning process involves the first 15 valid (non-noisy) beats encountered during
the learning phase.
The family selected to represent the “normal” complex includes the beat that is the most frequently
seen, narrowest, on-time beat. For this reason, learning should not be initiated when the patient's
rhythm is primarily ventricular.
Arrhythmia learning/relearning automatically occurs when the Therapy Knob is turned on to Monitor,
Pacer or Manual Defib, any time there is a change in the lead selection for Wave Sector 1, and after the
correction of a “Leads or Pads Off” INOP condition that has been active longer than 60 seconds.
Manual relearning should be initiated if the beat detection is not occurring or if beat classification is
incorrect and results in a false alarm. Remember, however, that if the same signal condition which
caused the algorithm to perform poorly still persists, relearning will not be able to correct the problem.
The problem can only be corrected by improving the quality of the signal (e.g., by selecting a different
lead.)
To initiate relearning manually,
1 Press the Menu Select button.
2 Using the Navigation buttons, select Measurements/Alarms from the menu and press the Menu
Select button.
3 Select HR/Arrhythmia and press the Menu Select button.
4 Select Relearn Rhythm and press the Menu Select button.
The messages “Learning ECG” and “Learning Rhythm” appear in the rhythm status area of the display.
WARNING If arrhythmia relearning takes place during a ventricular rhythm or during a period of poor ECG signal
quality, ectopic beats may be incorrectly learned as the normal QRS complex. This may result in
missed detection of subsequent events of V-tach and high PVC rates.
For this reason, you should:
• take care to initiate arrhythmia relearning only when the ECG signal is noise-free.
• be aware that arrhythmia relearning can happen automatically.
• respond to any INOP messages (for example, if you are prompted to reconnect electrodes).
• display an annotated wave to ensure beat labels are correct.
Troubleshooting
If your HeartStart MRx does not operate as expected during ECG and Arrhythmia monitoring, see
“Troubleshooting” on page 249.