TY  - JOUR
AU  - Tahri Sqalli, Mohammed
AU  - Al-Thani, Dena
AU  - Elshazly, Mohamed B
AU  - Al-Hijji, ‪Mohammed
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/10/14
TI  - Interpretation of a 12-Lead Electrocardiogram by Medical Students: Quantitative Eye-Tracking Approach
JO  - JMIR Med Educ
SP  - e26675
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
KW  - eye tracking
KW  - electrocardiogram
KW  - ECG interpretation
KW  - medical education
KW  - human-computer interaction
KW  - medical student
KW  - eye
KW  - tracking
KW  - interpretation
KW  - ECG
AB  - Background: Accurate interpretation of a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) demands high levels of skill and expertise. Early training in medical school plays an important role in building the ECG interpretation skill. Thus, understanding how medical students perform the task of interpretation is important for improving this skill. Objective: We aimed to use eye tracking as a tool to research how eye fixation can be used to gain a deeper understanding of how medical students interpret ECGs. Methods: In total, 16 medical students were recruited to interpret 10 different ECGs each. Their eye movements were recorded using an eye tracker. Fixation heatmaps of where the students looked were generated from the collected data set. Statistical analysis was conducted on the fixation count and duration using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The average percentage of correct interpretations was 55.63%, with an SD of 4.63%. After analyzing the average fixation duration, we found that medical students study the three lower leads (rhythm strips) the most using a top-down approach: lead II (mean=2727 ms, SD=456), followed by leads V1 (mean=1476 ms, SD=320) and V5 (mean=1301 ms, SD=236). We also found that medical students develop a personal system of interpretation that adapts to the nature and complexity of the diagnosis. In addition, we found that medical students consider some leads as their guiding point toward finding a hint leading to the correct interpretation. Conclusions: The use of eye tracking successfully provides a quantitative explanation of how medical students learn to interpret a 12-lead ECG. 
SN  - 2369-3762
UR  - https://mededu.jmir.org/2021/4/e26675
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/26675
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34647899
DO  - 10.2196/26675
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/26675
ER  -