the acquisition device 10 20 is used in a doctor 39 s office to prioritize medical treatment in another embodiment the acquisition device is used in an emergency setting such as a hospital emergency department or the site of an accident natural disaster or battlefield to ration limited medical resources when the number of injured needing care exceeds the resources available to perform care so as to treat the greatest number of patients possible i e triage fig7 is a flow chart 70 illustrating the collection of ecg data according to an embodiment of the invention from a start block 71 the left arm la leadwire input 38 a from the electrocardiograph 34 couples to the connector 14 a on the device 10 20 in block 72 in block 73 the left leg ll leadwire input 38 b from the electrocardiograph 34 couples to the connector 14 b on the device 10 20 in block 74 the right arm ra leadwire input 38 c from the electrocardiograph 34 couples to the connector 14 c on the device 10 20 in block 75 the patient 39 s first hand 50 is placed on the conductive contact pads 16 a and 16 b in block 76 the patient 39 s second hand 52 is placed on conductive contact pads 16.