ECG Wave-Maven: An Internet-based Electrocardiography Self-Assessment Program for Students and Clinicians

Abstract

Purpose: To create a multimedia internet-based ECG teaching tool, with the ability to rapidly incorporate new clinical cases. Method: We created ECG Wave-Maven (http://ecg.bidmc.harvard.edu), a novel teaching tool with a direct link to an institution-wide clinical repository. We analyzed usage data from the web between December, 2000 and May 2002. Results: In 17 months, there have been 4105 distinct uses of the program. A majority of users are physicians or medical students (2605, 63%), and almost half report use as an educational tool. Conclusions: The internet offers an opportunity to provide easily-expandable, open access re-sources for ECG pedagogy which may be used to complement traditional methods of instruction.