Do computer generated ECG reports improve interpretation by accident and emergency senior house officers?. Issue 909 (1st July 2001)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goodacre, S; Webster, A; Morris, F
• Is Part Of: Postgraduate medical journal. Volume 77:Issue 909(2001)
• Page Start: 455
• Page End: 457
• Publication Date: 2001-07-01
• Subjects: electrocardiogram -- computer reading systems -- accident and emergency; Medicine -- Periodicals; 610
• DOI: 10.1136/pmj.77.909.455
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0032-5473

Abstract

Abstract : OBJECTIVES: To determine whether access to a computer generated electrocardiogram (ECG) report can reduce errors of interpretation by senior house officers (SHOs) in an accident and emergency department. METHODS: Ten SHOs were asked to interpret 50 ECGs each: 25 with computer generated reports, 25 without. Their answers, and the computer generated reports, were compared with a "gold standard" produced by two experienced clinicians. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of major errors of interpretation. RESULTS: The computer reading system made two major errors (4%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1% to 13.5%) compared with the gold standard. Access to the computer report did not significantly reduce major errors among SHOs (46 (18.4%) with report v 56 (22.4%) without, odds ratio 0.64, 95% CI 0.36% to 1.14%, p=0.13) or improve the proportion completely correct (104 (41.6%) with report v 91 (36.4%) without, odds ratio 1.43, 95% CI 0.88 to 2.33, p=0.15). CONCLUSIONS: SHOs have a high error rate when interpreting ECGs, which is not significantly reduced by access to a computer generated report. Junior doctors should continue to seek expert senior help when they have to interpret a difficult ECG.