Survey results published in EP Europace suggested that most, but not all, emergency department physicians in the United Kingdom and in Germany use ambulatory ECGs for the evaluation of syncope/collapse as recommended by guidelines. A total of 177 respondents participated in the quantitative survey. The use of ambulatory ECG monitors varied depending on specialty. For daily symptoms, between 20% and 31% of physicians used the ambulatory ECG monitoring, but that number changed to favor Holter monitoring when there was monitoring of more infrequent events. “In the evaluation of syncope/collapse, most UK and German emergency department physicians use ambulatory ECGs according to guidelines,” the researchers wrote, “but a substantial minority diverge from ambulatory ECG guideline recommendations.”
Sutton R, Mears R, Kohno R, Benditt D. EP Europace. 2018;doi:10.1093/europace/euy178