Scenario: The monitor technician made an overhead announcement to the intensive care unit (ICU) staff “bed check room 10” after seeing what appeared to be ventricular tachycardia (VT) in lead V1 at the central monitoring station (see box below). The ECG below was automatically printed from the central monitoring station following an alarm for “VTach.” The alarm occurred in a 72-year-old man admitted to the medical/surgical ICU for sepsis.

False alarm caused by artifact mimicking VT in lead V1 at twice the actual heart rate. Sinus rhythm at a rate of 88 beats per minute. Possible ST-segment depression in inferior leads II and III, but wandering baseline is present.

Although lead V1 shows a wide complex tachycardia suggestive of VT, the other simultaneously recorded leads show normal sinus rhythm. Note that the pulse waveform of the oxygen saturation (Spo2) is normal, indicating that...

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