Customer Reviews

12-Lead ECG: The Art Of Interpretation

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been teaching 12 Lead ECGs and Acute Coronary Syndromes for several years now, and I have read just about every book available on the topic. I can tell you without a doubt that this is the most comprehensive 12 lead book I have ever owned. Garcia and Holtz have truly done a service to the medical communtiy by compiling this book.

I love the way this book is arranged. Part I of the book (about 70 pages) deals with anatomy, physiology, basic rhythm interpretation, and the nuts and bolts of electrocardiography. Part II of the book (the remaining 600 plus pages) deals with the art of interpretation. Garcia and Holtz are innovative. Explanations are color coded into various levels of difficulty. If you are new to 12 leads, you can stick to level 1 explanations (blue). If you're getting the hang of things, or have some experience already, you can take it to level 2 (green). Or, if you're at the physician level, you're sure to enjoy the level III commentary (orange). This makes _12-Lead ECG The Art of Interpretation_ the gift that keeps on giving as you become more proficient at 12 lead interpretation.

If you're only interested in identifying acute myocardial infarction, then you might want to consider Tim Phalen's book. It will tell you everything you need to know. However, if you really want to learn how to read a 12 lead ECG, then this book is definitely for you. Whether it's atrial enlargemt, a depolarization abnormality, drug effect, ischemia, or just about anything else you can think of, you're likely to find several outstanding examples in this book.

It's well worth the investment.

This book is fantastic, and in my opinion is of a much better quality and more user-friendly than the Dubin text ("Rapid Interpretation of EKGs") that is so widely lauded. For a start, Dr. Garcia and Mr. Holtz have a wonderful, friendly, amusing, down-to-earth style of writing that is without the pretense so common among books geared to medical professionals. The three level system is great for prioritizing the material into what you absolutely must know versus things that are nice to know but can wait. Level 1 breaks down the basics into the true basics, assumes you know nothing (or almost nothing, which is a significant number of 3rd year med students like me! After cramming so much for so long, there's bound to be brain leakage...) Levels 2 and 3 are great, but are probably beyond the scope of anything a med student is likely to see on a shelf exam or even the USMLE Steps 1 and 2. Could be wrong, but that's the impression I have so far. If you have the time, it certainly can't hurt. At any rate, this book is a very easy read, full of nice big pictures and pretty colors (great for tired eyes and visual learners in general), and is perhaps the only book I've read on the subject thus far that has actually stuck with me! At the very least, make this a strongly recommended buy to your school's librarian, but you'll probably want a copy for yourself as well.

This book was excellent. Comprehensive text, very readable, great graphics, hundreds of full sized ecgs in color. Three levels of mastery helped to simplify the process of learning to interpret ecgs. Recommend this book highly!!!!!

This is an excellent book. It is well laid out and easy to follow with enough information to satisfy most potential users, regardless of knowledge base.
I highly recommend this book if you are serious about learning 12 lead interpritation. If you are strictly looking for rhythm interpritation, there are better.

This book is hands down the best book on EKG interpretation I've ever used. Garcia and Holtz start you from the basics and go no where but up to the top, all the while drilling in the concepts with repeat practice EKGs. This is what makes it extremely practical - you'll be able to put the information you learn to use right away. If you're just starting to learn about EKGs, this book is well worth the cost

I'm an emergency nurse going through an emergency nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist program. I have MANY EKG books - Dubin, Hampton (x2), Green & Chiaramida, and A. L. Goldberger. I asked one of the ER residents I worked with for a recommendation on a good book - he highly recommended Garcia - so I bought it. Now(almost 1.5 years later), I'm getting ready to teach my first 12 Lead EKG interpretation class to assist a hospital in meeting criteria for a chest pain center. My main references are this book and Goldberger. I have looked at Dubin, but I'm not a fan of that layout, but it works and is VERY simple (I don't like wading through pages to find what I want) and my classmates swear by it. It just depends on what you like. I like the way Garcia's is formatted, the simple manner in which they bring you through concepts that are rather hard for newbies to get their head around (axis is a very confusing concept for nurses new to EKG interpretation)and tons of examples and pointers. Again, it's how they teach it that is so great. The authors also have an intro book - but I would skip that one as the intro is the first part of this book. There is also an instructor's toolkit CD to go along with the book (not included). As a staff nurse in the ER Garcia's was fabulous, but now as a NP and CNS student, it is even more valuable! And don't fret! I'm finding out that there are a LOT of people out there that don't know how to interpret a 12 Lead EKG - but they don't tell you that, unfortunately. This book is also an excellent review and is leveled so at different levels you can see different things in the same EKG. If you are on the fence about purchasing this book, ask an ER resident what they use.

This book is a decent book for learning 12 Lead EKGs. It is through and introduces things in a stepwise fashion. It was not as valuable to me as the book I used to learn single lead EKGs, the EKG workout book (Huff). After spending a weekend with that book, I became very confident. A weekend with this book has left me with a pretty rudimentary understanding.
I think it would benefit from the addition of more practice strips. It is too easy to coast along thinking you are learning from reading the interpretations provided as you go. The language can be a little strange. PACs are called APCs, PVCs are VPCs. I've never encountered that language in clinical practice, so it could be confusing to learn them that way...

I have several EKG books and I am studying for a quiz that is all interpretation. This is the only book I have that has real EKG's to study. If you really want to learn EKG's you need more than one book, but this is a must have!!

there isa need to have more ECG books like this one.
Ive been practising medicine for 33 years
he is the best author on ECGs & ECG books from 1971 when i started clinical medicine i.e. for 36 years
( I really hope the author is informed of this opinion )

I'm currently a medical student in my second year and just completed an intense course on ECGs on which we were tested. Before it started I couldn't decide on which book to go with but I ended up choosing this one. This book was EXCELLENT. It provides the material in a straight-forward manner and by reading with the various "levels" you learn it a lot more quickly. There are also PLENTY of ECGs to help you practice. Many of the students had various other books but many ended up taking a look at mine and suggested that this seemed better than what they had purchased. I highly recommend it!