Thomas M. Blake – författare

Electrocardiography is a mature discipline, so familiar to both doctors and patients that it's hardly noticed, one of those tests that have always been there, like the white count and hemoglobin, not something one has to think about much, or question. To some extent this view is valid, but it overlooks some important points. Like the white count and hemoglobin, electrocardiograms are produced by technicians using mechanical devices that turn out numbers, but there is a difference. The white count and hemoglobin are reported as single values to be interpreted by the doctor who knows the patient and ordered the test, but the graph produced by an EKG machine represents millions of numbers displayed as XY plots, a message written in a language different from one's own. It requires transla­ tion, and this means that the translator must not only know the lan­ guage, but also be able to assess the effects on it of the many factors that may have modified its meaning between origin and delivery. There is potential for harm to the patient, as well as for help, in every facet of the process, and to lose sight of this, to see the tracing as a single whole, would be like seeing words as units without con­ sidering the letters that compose them. When we read, we do recog­ nize whole words, patterns, but, having learned the letters first, revert to this base intuitively when we encounter a new word, or one that is misspelled.

Electrocardiography is a mature discipline, so familiar to both doctors and patients that it's hardly noticed, one of those tests that have always been there, like the white count and hemoglobin, not something one has to think about much, or question. To some extent this view is valid, but it overlooks some important points. Like the white count and hemoglobin, electrocardiograms are produced by technicians using mechanical devices that turn out numbers, but there is a difference. The white count and hemoglobin are reported as single values to be interpreted by the doctor who knows the patient and ordered the test, but the graph produced by an EKG machine represents millions of numbers displayed as XY plots, a message written in a language different from one's own. It requires transla­ tion, and this means that the translator must not only know the lan­ guage, but also be able to assess the effects on it of the many factors that may have modified its meaning between origin and delivery. There is potential for harm to the patient, as well as for help, in every facet of the process, and to lose sight of this, to see the tracing as a single whole, would be like seeing words as units without con­ sidering the letters that compose them. When we read, we do recog­ nize whole words, patterns, but, having learned the letters first, revert to this base intuitively when we encounter a new word, or one that is misspelled.

A master practitioner illustrates with 185 electrocardiograms a new scientific approach to the art of EKG intrepretation. Moving beyond the traditional practice of many books that stress technical skill and pattern recognition, Dr. Blake demonstrates in detail how tracings may be interpeted with consistency and medical rigor to distinguish normal and abnormal EKG patterns. Each tracing is illuminated by a full description of its findings and a detailed clinical explanation of how to intrepet it. Published in both hardcover and paperback this book will be used by medical students in preparation for their exams as well as by practicing physicians who want to develop a scientifically-based approach to reading EKGs.

A master practitioner teaches, with 200 sample electrocardiograms, a simple but powerfully enlightening scientific approach to the art of EKG interpretation. Moving beyond the traditional practice of many books that stress technical skill and pattern recognition, Dr. Blake demonstrates in detail how tracings may be interpreted with consistency and confidence. By examining each tracing much like a patient in a physical examination, the author provides a full description of its findings and a detailed clinical explanation of how to interpret it. Drawing on a lifetime of teaching and practicing EKG interpretation, Dr. Blake demonstrates in An Annotated Atlas of Electrocardiography: A Guide to Confident Interpretation an orderly, confidence-inspiring method for arriving at a clinically useful interpretation.

Electrocardiography is a mature discipline, so familiar to both doctors and patients that it''s hardly noticed, one of those tests that have always been there, like the white count and hemoglobin, not something one has to think about much, or question. To some extent this view is valid, but it overlooks some important points. Like the white count and hemoglobin, electrocardiograms are produced by technicians using mechanical devices that turn out numbers, but there is a difference. The white count and hemoglobin are reported as single values to be interpreted by the doctor who knows the patient and ordered the test, but the graph produced by an EKG machine represents millions of numbers displayed as XY plots, a message written in a language different from one''s own. It requires transla­ tion, and this means that the translator must not only know the lan­ guage, but also be able to assess the effects on it of the many factors that may have modified its meaning between origin and delivery. There is potential for harm to the patient, as well as for help, in every facet of the process, and to lose sight of this, to see the tracing as a single whole, would be like seeing words as units without con­ sidering the letters that compose them. When we read, we do recog­ nize whole words, patterns, but, having learned the letters first, revert to this base intuitively when we encounter a new word, or one that is misspelled.