Patients may only see Leanne Hutch, a cardiac technologist at St. Boniface Hospital, for a ten-minute electrocardiogram (ECG) during their stay at the hospital, but that short test can tell Hutch a lot about their heart health, and may even alert her to an urgent life-threatening event.

One experience always stands out to Hutch, impressing upon her the value of her role and that she is in the right profession.

“I was setting up a patient with a Holter monitor. And as I normally do, I was asking them a few questions to get a sense of how they were feeling.,” said Hutch. “The patient told me they were feeling dizzy and lightheaded and when I looked at their heart rhythm on the Holter monitor screen, I was able to see why. I noticed that their heart rate was very slow, and from what I could tell with the test, it actually looked like a complete heart block.” 

“The Holter monitor is a type of portable ECG. It records the electrical activity of the heart continuously over 24 hours or longer while you are away from the doctor’s office. A standard or “resting” ECG is one of the simplest and fastest tests used to evaluate the heart. Electrodes (small, plastic patches that stick to the skin) are placed at certain points on the chest and abdomen. The electrodes are connected to an ECG machine by wires. Then, the electrical activity of the heart can be measured, recorded, and printed. No electricity is sent into the body.” – Johns Hopkins Medicine

Hutch acted quickly. She informed her charge cardiology technologist and a cardiologist was called. Within minutes a controlled code blue was called so that the patient could be moved to the Emergency Department safely and as quickly as possible.   

Hutch credits the specialized training of a cardiology technologist and recognizes their significant role within care teams to support the delivery of safe, high-quality care to cardiac patients.

On February 14, Canada celebrates Cardiology Technologist Day, a time to recognize the important work of cardiology technologists who look after our hearts.

To Hutch, the timing couldn’t be better. “Personally, I think whoever decided to celebrate our role on Valentine’s Day had a great idea because it is a day about love, the heart is the symbol for love, so it’s a nice segue into ‘you know who also really cares about your heart? Our cardiology technologists!’” said Hutch.

Along with performing ECGs and setting up Holter monitors to diagnose heart arrhythmias and heart disease, cardiology technologists do other non-invasive cardiac tests like stress tests. Hutch explained that one of the joys of her role is analyzing Holter scans and occasionally finding rare conditions.

“It’s almost like a puzzle. What’s happening in this 10 second frame of the Holter scan?” said Hutch. “I always get a little excited every time I see dextrocardia (a condition where the heart points to the right, instead of its normal position pointed to the left). When this happens almost everything looks backwards on an ECG. I’ll look at it and think ‘did I hook up something wrong, what’s going on?’ and it takes a moment to realize why.”

In her role, Hutch sees many patients every day, many of whom are anxious or scared of having a serious heart event. She explained that the pandemic has made the experience more stressful for patients due to visitor restrictions, so she takes great care to create a comforting and caring environment for patients.   

“Even though an ECG doesn’t take long to complete, that time can make a huge difference in how patients feel. I think just showing compassion and empathy, and reassuring them that they are in a safe place surrounded by medical professionals, can change the way they experience the appointment.”

Manitoba’s cardiology technologists support Shared Health’s mission to create equitable, safe, accessible, trusted and sustainable pathways to care. For more information, and to explore exciting career opportunities, go to the Canadian Society of Cardiology Technologists website at csct.ca.