Evaluation of accuracy and reliability of electrocardiographs interpreted by emergency medicine assistants

The heart diseases take place on the top within the diseases causing death at most around the world. Approximately eight million persons apply to the Emergency Departments with the chest pain every year (1). It was detected that heart disease prevalence was 6.7% throughout Turkey, coronary heart disease was 3.8% and hypertensive heart disease was 2.2% in the adults (2). Approximately 15% of the patients applied to the Emergency Department (ED) with the chest pain received the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) diagnosis and one-third of them progressed fatal (3). The electrocardiogram (ECG) used in the diagnosis of cardiac diseases is the primary among the non-invasive, quick, reliable, easy and repeatable examinations. It has critical importance in the diagnosis of acute coronary events. The ECG interpretation is an ordinary skill for the emergency physicians in a timely and correct interpretation of the high-risk ECGs in many cardiac, metabolic, electrolyte and toxicological cases especially for those threatening the life. While the emergency physician training is seen to improve the ECG interpretation, it is seen that there are still faulty interpretations of the ECGs for the physicians working in the Emergency Departments at different levels in the diagnosis of the pathologies coming to existence and threatening the life (1). It was detected in the researches performed in the USA that 28-50% of the patients applied to the Emergency Departments with the chest pain complaint were not sufficiently examined and 2-5% of them were discharged from the hospital by misdiagnosing the AMI case (4). The initial ECG is diagnostic for the acute myocardial damage or ischemia in approximately 40-65% of the patients with AMI (5). The patients having an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) suspicious and patients having an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction