Can you tell right from left bundle branch block? Are they clinically important?
And what (if anything) can you do about it?
If you find ECGs intimidating, you are not alone. Help is at hand!
We are pleased to announce this new BJC series which is aimed at, “keeping the art of ECG interpretation alive in primary care”, in the words of series author, Dr Heather Wetherell (above).
Heather, a general practitioner and a GP with a Special interest in Cardiology at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, recently launched an educational blog Keeping ECGs simple. This runs alongside the Twitter forum, #ECGclass, which is intended to offer some easy to follow ECG ‘refresher’ notes for clinicians who have previous, but somewhat rusty, knowledge. It also hopes to encourage less reliance on the often-inaccurate analysis by digital machines, now commonly found in many practices.
Social media is increasingly recognised as an important educational medium, allowing conversation and learning, while removing the constraints of a traditional classroom environment with computers, smartphones and tablets working like a virtual classroom. Participants can learn ‘on-the-move’ and can freely drop-in-and-out of conversations at their leisure.
The BJC series will be around the blog with the aim of keeping the learning atmosphere casual, non-threatening, and fun. Cardiologists will sometimes comment on further investigations and management of patients, and we will welcome feedback and questions from readers, as well as continuing some of the dialogue on Twitter.
All will be explained in the next issue of
the journal!
