The use of temporary atrial wire electrodes to record atrial electrograms in patients who had cardiac surgery.

The use of temporary atrial electrodes after surgery provides the medical staff with a valuable diagnostic tool in patients who have undergone open heart surgery. Recording a unipolar or bipolar atrial EG is a simple procedure that can be performed at bedside with an ECG machine. The bipolar recording lead has specific advantages over a unipolar recording lead. The use of a bipolar recording lead simplifies the identification of the P wave during rapid tachycardias and atrioventricular dissociation. The use of unipolar and bipolar atrial EGs recorded simultaneously and sequentially can be used to identify atrial rhythm and ascertain the atrioventricular relationship. Nurses need to integrate unipolar and bipolar EGs as part of their baseline assessment.