Standardization of electrocardiographic interpretive statements: a menu for word processing.

Standardization of electrocardiographic interpretive statements is a goal of various coding systems, but word processing has not usually been considered. A simple, easily memorized system for clinical electrocardiography has been developed and used for approximately 60 000 interpretations. It takes the form of a "menu", in which boxes stand for various interpretive statements; the boxes are identified by mnemonics and marked by the interpreter when appropriate. The results provide better standardization, significant decreases in the numbers of descriptive statements and words per interpretation and considerable saving in typing time. Acceptance by the interpreters has been good. Features of the system allow for word processing as part of a polarcardiography computing system.