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A typical shift

Eight or 12 hours. You wheel the ECG (electrocardiogram) cart to the emergency department and the wards, sticking electrodes on chests and reading the tracing for anything urgent. Back in the lab you run stress tests, walking patients on a treadmill while you watch their rhythm, and fit Holter monitors people wear home for a day or two. Afternoons might be device checks for pacemaker patients. Rhythm alarms and cardiac arrests break the routine.