User's Manual

9-16
Arrhythmia Troubleshooting Guide
Clinical Situation Possible Cause Solution
Abnormal beat not
detected
■ Module receiving inadequate signal;
NOISY SIGNAL or ECG VOLTAGE
TOO LOW messages appear. Noise
level is over allowable range, or
signal level is below QRS detection
threshold.
■ Make the necessary adjustments to
restore good signal.
■ Check all leads to determine a better
monitoring lead or select another
lead.
■ Remove the cause of the noise.
■ Some beats not recognized as
morphologically different from the
learned dominant beat.
■ No action required; some events that
may be diagnosed as abnormal by a
skilled clinician may not meet the
module’s criteria for abnormality.
■ System has not seen 5 abnormals or
3 couplets of like morphology to
generate a class.
■ No action is required.
■ Arrhythmia detection is not enabled. ■ Enable arrhythmia detection through
the ECG Setup menu.
False Alarms NOTE: Careful attention to good monitoring technique, especially setup, will keep false
alarms at a low level. If false alarms do occur, however, check the following.
■ Noise on the signal caused by poor
electrode application is the most
common cause of false alarms.
■ Remove the cause of the noise.
■ Deactivate alarm for the classes that
fill up with repetitive artifact; do not
clear these classes.
■ Multiple abnormal classes with atrial
fibrillation or flutter waveforms.
■ Merge the class with the dominant or
another abnormal class.
■ Deactivate alarm for these classes,
or consider deactivating the ABN
PER MIN alarm.
■ Atrial fibrillation continually triggering
TACH alarm.
■ Consider deactivating TACH alarm.
■ Limits set too close to patient’s heart
rate.
■ Check and adjust the alarm limits.
■ Amplitude of ECG signal has
dropped below threshold of R-wave
detector.
■ Reposition electrodes and relearn
patient’s rhythm.