Special Requirements
DO NOT GET MONITOR WET OR DROP THE MONITOR.
- Disconnect wires and monitor before you have a shower or the monitor will be irreparably damaged.
- Do not remove the electrodes’ discs until they are no longer sticking to you.
- Remove the monitor when going to bed.
- On completion of the test, return the monitor and your completed record of symptoms to the Australian Clinical Labs Collection Centre.
On the Day of the Test
- Please shower prior to your appointment. Do not use powder or body lotions on your chest area. Wear clothes that are easy to remove from the waist up. Allow approximately 30 minutes for the ECG to be performed and the monitor to be fitted.
- The area where the electrodes discs are fitted to the chest will need to be rubbed with alcohol to remove natural oils from the skin. This will ensure that contact is adequate when attaching the electrode discs and leads. The recorder is attached with a long loop around your neck.
- When you have one of your symptoms (an event), firmly press either of the record/send buttons, (located on front of monitor or the side where the patient cable is attached to the monitor), for two seconds until an audible sound is heard, then release. Remain quiet, still and breathe normally.
- During the next 30 seconds (while the monitor is recording) you will hear a continuous tone, which fluctuates with your heartbeat (sounds like a kettle whistling). If contact has been lost (eg. the lead unclips) the monitor will make a siren type noise. Check the leads are attached. At the end of the 30 seconds there will be a single phone ring tone signalling that an event has been recorded. The stored event number will be indicated on the display.
- The monitor is programmed to detect abnormal heartbeats and may record an event even when you have not pressed the record button. If this happens you will hear a beep followed by a phone ring that lets you know an event has been recorded. The last event will always be reserved for you to manually record an event.
- On completion of recording five events, the monitor will sound a phone ring every minute for 10 minutes. This lets you know that the monitor should be returned to the Australian Clinical Labs Collection Centre where it was fitted.
- Remove the leads from the electrodes on your chest. Remove and discard the electrodes. Return the monitor with your list of symptoms (below).
Note:
Removing the patient cable from the monitor and pressing the record/send button will delete all recorded events.
The test display area will show ‘monitoring’ continuously flashing after setup.
When an event is recording the test display area will show ‘recording’ continuously flashing for approximately 30 seconds. On completion there will be a single phone ring sound indicating an event has been recorded.
The collection staff are required to check your details (surname, first given name, date of birth and date and time of collection on the container label) against the pathology request form to ensure the sample is matched to the doctor’s request. This is done to ensure the safety and security of reporting your test results.