zlacker

If you can’t read a critical ECG you failed medical school

>>robbie+(OP)
I'm not sure what you practice but that's far too dismissive. I passed med school just fine and maintain my ACLS certification as required. Am I calling an AV block or even a STEMI in real life? Absolutely not.

I maintain enough competence to know when it looks like it could be critical so I can call for help, but realistically that's happening anyway as soon as someone gets unstable as I haven't resuscitated someone in years.

I haven't looked at a real patient's ECG in probably 7 years now. If you were the patient, would you even want me to? I'd rather just do the smart and safe thing, call for help.

No subspecialist (or even specialist) can maintain competence in all areas of medicine, it's hard enough keeping up my general radiology skills. It's a good thing none of us practice in silos by definition.

>>halduj+j51
The statement I made was if you can't read a critical ECG then you failed medical school.

You have basically agreed with me. I made no statements about subspecialisation or attempt to reconcile the breadth of medical knowledge that is required as you progress through medical training into consultant status with that original knowledge, or implied that we're expected to be able to definitively diagnose and manage a patient with a ECG that implies an imminent threat to life.

Frankly I think that everyone should still be able to recognise a STEMI - it's pretty characteristic; the more severe or subtle AV blocks definitely take some familiarity; but the bedrock principle of ACLS is calling for help, and medicine is certainly a team sport

>>robbie+2j1
Apologies, I misunderstood your point. I thought you were criticizing that I can't read every ECG pattern in ACLS (what I assumed you meant by critical).

>>halduj+l62
All good!