Skills Hub
ekg-cardiovascular
12-Lead Electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG)
Always tested on the CCMA
Perform a 12-lead electrocardiogram.
About this skill
12-lead ECG with proper lead placement (limb leads and precordial V1 through V6), artifact reduction, and standard speed (25 mm/sec) and calibration (10 mm/mV).
12 total steps
4 critical steps
Time limit: 10 min
What graders are watching for
- 1Color coding: white (RA), black (LA), green (RL), red (LL)
- 2V1 and V2 are septal; V3 and V4 are anterior; V5 and V6 are lateral
- 3Artifact is the most common reason for unreadable tracings
Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- !Switching the limb lead colors
- !Placing V1 and V2 in the wrong intercostal space
- !Talking during the tracing (causes artifact)
Practice this skill step-by-step
The static walkthrough above is the marketing overview. The full step-by-step interactive practice (with critical-step highlighting, per-step "why this matters" rationale, and what graders watch for on each individual step) is unlocked with a subscription.