SEALED FOR FRESHNESS Don't let your electrodes dry out. Box them up like leftovers.

ECG EFFECTS
Box Up Your Unused Electrodes

ECG electrodes come 25 or 50 to the pack, but we don't use them all at once. After our anesthesia providers tear open a package, they fold it over and leave the package on their cart or in the drawer. Later, though, we'd notice that the electrodes weren't as effective at picking up a signal, because their conductive gel had dried out. So we started keeping opened packages of electrodes in one of those plastic containers with snap-on lids. This helps to keep them moist, and the containers still fit conveniently on the cart.

Kimberly Flood, RN, BSN, CNOR
Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine
Philadelphia, Pa.
[email protected]