An electrical impulse triggers your heart to beat. A drawing of
your heart’s beat is called an electrocardiogram (ECG). The
pattern of the ECG is the rhythm of your heartbeat. Abnormal
heartbeats are called “arrhythmias”. Telemetry allows your
doctors and nurses to watch your ECG 24 hours a day. The small
battery pack you carry connects to five stickers (electrodes) on
your chest. These sense your heart beat and send the ECG by
radio waves to the computer at the nurse’s station. The nurses
and computer watch for arrhythmias. Be sure to tell your nurse
any time you have chest pain, fast heart beats (palpitations),
or feel dizzy, faint or short of breath. You can move around in
your room and in the hallway, when your nurse tells you it is
okay. You need to check with your nurse to see if you are
allowed to leave the unit. If you get too far away it may not be
possible for your ECG to be monitored. Check with your nurse to
see if it is okay for you to shower. Do not shower with the
battery pack on. Be sure to te