Critical Care Education's EKG Technician Program will prepare you to enter to field as a Monitor Technician
Monitor technicians, also referred to as cardiac monitor technicians, work in hospitals and other medical care centers that provide treatment relating to heart health. Most of their work involves using machines and other medical technology to observe the heart beats and electrocardiograms (EKG) of patients in intensive care units, or ICUs and to keep track of patients' heart performance checking for any abnormalities, such as irregular heartbeats, arrhythmias, and cardiac arrest. Monitor technicians typically do not provide treatment of any kind, but they do have to interpret test results and must report them to a nurse or physician.
Monitor technicians typically work in hospitals and sit at computers outside of patients’ rooms to perform their job. Since a patients’ heart needs to always need to be watched, Monitor Technicians may work at any time in the day or night, depending on their assigned shift. Workers in this position report directly to a lead nurse. Monitor technicians usually work full-time shifts from 8 to 10 hours and can work daytime, evening, and weekend shifts.
A Monitor Technicians specific job functionality may differ depending on their experience and the hospital where they work, they typically perform the same core tasks throughout their shifts.
Observe and Interpret Heart Monitors
The bulk of a monitor tech’s work day is observing and interpreting the heart monitors of patients in the ICU. They also interpret heart readings from the monitors and look for any significant changes.
Perform EKGs
Monitor techs occasionally perform EKGs on patients in the Intensive Care Unit. This involves attaching electrodes to the patient’s body and using a machine to record the electrical impulses from the patient’s heart.
Report Changes
If a monitor technician notices any changes in the patient’s heart readings or EKGs, they report them immediately to a nurse or doctor.
Update Patient Records
After taking new readings from the patient’s heart monitors, the monitor tech is responsible for updating that patient’s records. This may take place either on paper records or in the medical software that the hospital uses.
Maintain Equipment
Monitor techs are responsible for cleaning their equipment, including EKG machines and heart monitors. They are also responsible for recognizing when their equipment needs professional maintenance.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a monitor technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.31 an hour? That's $33,925 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 18,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
Critical Care Education will prepare you to enter the field of Monitor Technician by providing the skills and knowledge to understand and interpret EKG’s. This is the knowledge needed to apply and obtain a career in this exciting field.
