Practice standards for ECG monitoring in hospital settings: executive summary and guide for implementation.

Current goals of hospital ECG monitoring are to diagnose cardiac arrhythmias, acute myocardial ischemia, and drug-induced prolonged QT interval. Recently, experts in the field of electrocardiology and cardiac monitoring convened to develop a practice standard for hospital ECG monitoring. This executive summary reviews key elements of the practice standard and answers questions that often arise when clinicians try to implement them.