Routine Flashcards
6 cards from real EEG practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Routine flashcards as text
What is the standard duration of a routine EEG recording?
Answer: 20-30 minutes
A standard routine EEG typically records for 20-30 minutes, providing adequate time for baseline recording, activation procedures (hyperventilation and photic stimulation), and ideally capturing some drowsiness.
Before beginning a routine EEG, the technologist should first:
Answer: Review the clinical history and indication for the study on the requisition
Reviewing the clinical indication and patient history before beginning allows the technologist to tailor the recording protocol, anticipate relevant findings, and take appropriate precautions.
During a routine EEG, the technologist observes the patient staring blankly and becoming unresponsive. The appropriate action is to:
Answer: Continue recording while testing the patient's responsiveness and documenting observations
The technologist should keep recording to capture the EEG correlate of the clinical event while simultaneously testing responsiveness (speaking to the patient, presenting objects) and carefully documenting all observations with timestamps.
What documentation should the EEG technologist include in the technical report for a routine study?
Answer: Patient state, medications, impedance values, activation procedure details, artifacts encountered, and any clinical events observed
The technical report should comprehensively document patient state, current medications, electrode impedances, activation procedures performed and their responses, artifacts encountered, clinical observations, and any events during the recording.
If a routine EEG shows no epileptiform abnormalities, this means:
Answer: A single normal EEG does not exclude epilepsy, as interictal sensitivity is approximately 50% for a single routine study
A single normal routine EEG has limited sensitivity (approximately 50%) for detecting interictal epileptiform discharges. Epilepsy remains a clinical diagnosis, and serial or prolonged EEG studies increase diagnostic yield.
The standard paper speed (or digital equivalent time base) for routine EEG display is:
Answer: 30 mm/second
The standard time base for routine EEG is 30 mm/second (equivalent to displaying 10 seconds per standard screen page), which provides optimal visualization of EEG waveform morphology and temporal relationships.