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Dear friends!
As you’ve probably discovered already, the ECG blog has been down for almost a week. And now it’s back up again, but looks weird…..! The address, ecgblog.com will be kept, by the way.
Well, it’s all my fault. I’ve moved the blog from the Wordpress servers to a private host, and it’s been a bit tricky. I had some trouble with the database files and blah blah blah..
Contentwise, everything should be transferred now, but I still have to do something about the layout and interface of the site. So, if the site acts or looks a bit weird during the next week or so, you know it’s because I want to make everything a bit better than it has been!
As always, comments are much appreciated! Please bring me your ideas on how to make the site better! Thanks a lot for your patience!
Klaus
October 27, 2009
Happy birthday, folks!
It’s been a year since I created The ECG Blog, imagine that. I first started it because I needed a place where I could share my interest for ECG interpretation with others. I wanted to meet and discuss with people, to learn and be inspired. All of this and even more has come become true, so it´s been a great year. I could never have done this without you, my readers, so to all of you: I’m truly grateful to all of you for visiting and commenting! Thanks a lot!
A lot of things has happened during this first year in the blogosphere . It has been very rewarding, as it keeps me inspired in my own profession as an ER nurse (now specializing to become an ICU nurse, which in Norway requires 1.5 years at the university in addition to a nursing bachelor). I’ve also collected nearly 600 12 lead ECGs, bought 26 books about ECG interpretation and met a lot of inspiring people! One of those people is Tom Bouthillet over at the excellent Prehospital 12 Lead ECG blog. His knowledge on ECG interpretation, his tutorials and case presentations is simply amazing. Check him out! And while you’re at it, there is also The EKG Club, a Yahoo! discussion group open to everyone who likes discussing ECG. It’s a really friendly and great group, with more than 800 members and all kinds of health care professionals.
And then, in April I was contacted by the renowned Electrophysiology Lab Digest, who gave me the opportunity to present myself and The ECG Blog both online and in their printed magazine. And even more happened: Just a couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to be contacted by Billy Hurd at Pace Symposia. They are developing what is looking to be one of the possibly greatest ECG rhythm simulators on the market. I’ve been lucky enough to test it for them, and I wrote a short review of it here. Tom B. (above) wrote a better and more thorough review of it at his blog. The simulator can be downloaded as a free 24-hr trial version here.
Stats are always fun (I think), and I’d like to share with you the stats for this blog. After all, you created them!
Total stats in numbers
Visitors per month
Numbers months and days
Most popular posts
Last, but not least, I really would like your opinions on how to improve this blog. Any criticism or comments that are constructive are welcome! Anything you’re missing? What do you like and what not? Other ideas? Bring ‘em on! Help me make this site better and bigger!
Happy birthday!
-klaus
October 12, 2009
Courtesy of Pace Symposia
Dear readers and fellow ECG enthusiasts.
The strict purpose of The ECG Blog is to discuss and educate ECG interpretation. I want to maintain a serious profile, so therefore every blog post has been a clear cut case presentation. Today however, I’ve decided to make an exception to be able to share some good news with you. The good news is that a US based company called Pace Symposia, has developed a fantastic ECG rhythm simulator. Rest assured, this is not an announcement that I’m paid to do. The only reason I want to advertise this product is because it’s an invaluable and powerful tool for learning arrhythmia recognition and interpretation. Additionally it is incredibly fun, as well as it looks and feels better than any other rhythm sim I’ve tried. And I’ve tried a few.
The cardiac rhythm simulator from Pace Symposia has a very clean, stylish and most importantly intuitive and simple user interface. It’s got a wide range of arrhythmias that can be inititated by a simple mouse click. The user can also add a variety of ectopic activity such as PVC’s and PAC’s, both unifocal and multifocal. Everything happens in real time with very realistic morphology. Just like when a real life patient is hooked up to your telemetry screen or ECG monitor, the arrhythmia shifts dynamically and seamlessly between different rates, conduction ratios and morphologic changes.
Pace Symposia has set up a website for the sim at ecgsimulator.net, where you can try an online flash based version and download a fully functional free trial version. The simulator is now 1.0, but they are working on a revised version and believe me – it’s going to be awesome.
This is really a milestone for cardiac rhythm simulators, which is why I want my readers to be aware of it. This is such excellent work from Pace Symposia that I felt the need to show my support and spread the word.
Post update 3. Oct: Tom Bouthillet over at the very excellent Prehospital 12 Lead ECG blog has posted a much more thorough review of this simulator. Check it out, and while you’re at it be sure to check his other posts, tutorials and case studies.
August 13, 2009