The Journey Towards an Accurate Electrocardiogram Interpretation: An Eye-tracking Study Overview

The electrocardiogram is ranked among the top used medical diagnostic tests worldwide. Although its widespread use in the healthcare sector, there is a restricted body of research that depicts how medical practitioners interpret it. This is primarily due to the limited quantitative research methodologies that were able to capture this subtle skill during the previous two decades. In addition, there is a restricted set of international guidelines that unify the electrocardiogram interpretation process across different health institutions. This set of factors contributes towards the insufficiency of training provided to future medical practitioners. This also leads to the unpreparedness by students who are about to embark into the medical journey. In this paper, we present the overview and the general results for an eye tracking based experimental study that assessed the expertise of medical practitioners with varying expertise levels, namely medical students, nurses, technicians, fellows, and finally cardiology consultants. Those were assessed across ten categories of heart abnormalities depicted through ten 12-lead electrocardiograms. The study is done with an inherent aim in mind, which is to find innovative training solutions for cardiology professionals for a better electrocardiogram interpretation.