"In today's video, Courtney, our Clinical Educator, will be showing you how to test the ECG cables on your ECG machine. If there is a problem suspected with the ECG cable or electrode, several tests can be performed.

There should be noise on the ECG trace when each active electrode is touched. This is because the ECG machine is picking up on the signal. If there is no noise on the trace when the active electrode is touched, then there is a fault with the cable.

If there is any fault found during the cable test and it doesn’t involve the electrode itself, this indicates that the cables need to be repaired or replaced. It must be stressed that the connection from the cable to the patient must have as little resistance or inference as possible e.g. ensure the connection between the clips and electrodes are not dirty, do not use rusty clips, and ensure good contact with the electrode and the patient (use conductive gel, clip fur, clean skin etc). Cables may appear to be faulty if the equipment is dirty or there is poor electrode contact.

Cables have a different identifiable colour marker which corresponds to the placement location of the electrode attachment. In the UK, the cable colour and placement location are:

Yellow – Left Fore Red – Right Fore Green – Left Hind Black – Right Hind

To learn more on 'ECGs: Getting a Trustworthy Trace' read our NEW blog here

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