If you want to feel comfortable reading electrocardiograms but need help selecting a course, we’re here to help you find…
The Best EKG Courses Online
Why Is It So Hard...?
If you have a hard time with complex EKG Rhythm Strips and 12-lead EKGs, here’s why..
EKGs are Like Another Language
Did you ever have to learn French or Spanish or Russian in school? You can’t learn to be fluent in a foreign language in just one day. And you can’t learn to speak like a native just by reading a book.
Learning to read EKGs is like learning another language. You have to start with the letters, then start to recognize words and their meanings, then begin to put together sentences that make sense. If you don’t learn the basic rules of the language you will never become fluent.
Unfortunately, many people who work in the healthcare field learned to read EKGs from a book or from a couple of lectures. They never learned the nuances that help them feel comfortable with difficult tracings. If you are just getting started learning to read EKGs, or if you don’t feel comfortable and are looking for the best course to help you feel more proficient and satisfied with your skills, we’re here to help!
How We Did Our Reviews
Our team of healthcare professionals looked over paid ECG courses that appear near the top of a Google search. You generally get what you pay for, so we did not consider free courses, which are rarely more than basic textbooks online and totally inadequate for anyone who wants to feel confident in their skills.
Quality of Content
How clear is the material presented? Are videos easy to understand? Is the course well-organized? How easy it it to understand the instructor(s)?
Level of Complexity
Is this a basic course or do they dive into more complex topics? How do the instructors present EKG tracings that don’t look like “textbook” tracings?
Additional Features
What unique features does the site provide that users will appreciate? Can users advance past “proficient” with resources offered by the website?
What Are The Best EKG Courses Online?
Read our reviews below
- ECG Academy – The best online EKG course for beginners to experts. Contains an amazing amount of content useful for anyone looking to excel in reading ECGs. Many unique features help it stay above the competition.
- MedMastery – A popular website for medical education that offers many subjects for students and practitioners, but ECG training is not their specialty.
- ECG Weekly Workout – This case-based website provides a wide variety of abnormal EKGs, each with a detailed video explanation, and users can claim CMEs for watching each case. It’s not a formal course per se, but provides a huge library of interesting teaching and insights.
- BMJ Learning – The course offers 16 modules covering basic interpretation with ECG examples and a small library of practice tracings.
ECG Academy has been around since 2011. Its creator, a cardiac electrophysiologist (heart rhythm specialist) named “Dr. Nick” Tullo, started posting YouTube videos in 2010, and you can still find scores of them there. The website itself is attactive (though not terribly smart-phone friendly), and takes a while to navigate because of all the different options they offer (more about those later). However the material offered is top notch. The content takes the form of video tutorials, but it’s not just someone standing in front of a white board. The high definition videos are expertly edited, well produced and easy to watch. They start with basic principles of electricity and how EKG machines work, and then they cover anatomy and physiology of the heart, so you really don’t need any prior experience to jump into this course. We feel that this is the ultimate course for beginners or experienced readers who want to raise the bar and enhance their skills in a major way. Dr. Nick’s goal is to get everyone to be able to read ECGs like a cardiologist, so there’s no limit to what you can learn there.
The content is divided into 3 “Levels.” Level 1 deals mostly with EKG measurements and reading rhythm strips. But that’s where “Dr. Nick” shines, because he provides a deep dive into the physiology of heart arrhythmias. You’ll learn WHY EKGs look the way they do, so it’s easier to remember stuff. It also helps you to start to see things that aren’t very obvious to other readers. There are advanced topics built into this first level that other courses just gloss over. This is perfect for any telemetry tech, nurse or student who wants to look at a rhythm strip and know exactly what’s on it. Nothing is held back — Dr. Nick even gets into complex pacemaker troubleshooting, which you won’t find with other basic courses. Once you master reading rhythm strips, Level 2 explores all the topics you need to interpret a full 12-lead EKG. There is even a Level 3 that is considered “Expert” material, for people who can read a full EKG but want to learn more. That includes so much content, including a series of videos at the expert level, with lectures and clinical case presentations. They are even offering LIVE ECG Masterclasses every month for those who want to be able to ask questions during the presentation.
The other major offering that makes up the bulk of the “ECG Academy Learning System” takes the form of short (6 minute) videos that they call “ChalkTalks.” These start off with an unlabeled rhythm strip or a 12-lead, and then Dr. Nick draws on it while you hear his stream of consciousness as he figures out what’s going on. It’s like getting a private lesson from a doctor who reads EKGs for a living! We almost felt like he was there, and as he goes over each tracing you can start to pick out the findings that most experienced people miss. Each of those videos is full of “pearls,” and at the time of this review there are already over 600 ChalkTalks available to subscribers of the Expert level. Plus, they release a new ChalkTalk every week, so there’s always something more to learn.
We think ECG Academy is the best online course for a number of reasons. First, the quality of the videos and the audio is superb. Each one is well-edited and organized so that you start with basics and build up to a very high level of proficiency. If you read Dr. Nick’s bio, he is a native New Yorker, but has no detectable accent (except for a few that he occasionally throws in to get a laugh). The fact is that his teaching style is very informal, and the videos are obviously unscripted. It’s almost like you’re sitting side-by-side with a buddy who really wants you to learn this stuff, as opposed to many of the other courses that sound stiff and rehearsed, like someone reading a textbook to you. He actually tries to be funny sometimes, so watching the video lessons can actually be enjoyable. And although many of the images are hand-drawn, it’s actually easier to understand because there’s more of a “build-up” to complex ideas rather than being hit over the head with complex graphics. The ChalkTalks are a great example of that… he starts with an unlabeled tracing and then shows you what to look for by drawing directly on the EKG with different colored arrows and such. He shows you how to think about the possibilities, and then explains how to narrow the choices to the correct one. He doesn’t just give you the answer, he gives you the tools to get the correct answer on your own. Some of these ChalkTalks have a clinical history, and in some cases he actually touches on patient management and treatments (for example, when should a patient receive a pacemaker) but it’s mostly just about the EKG. We think that ECG Academy provides the most comprehensive look at complex rhythms and 12-leads — once you get though it all it would be very hard to miss an important finding. The other reason we like it is the physiologic approach, so you really understand what’s going on. It allows you to “analyze” EKGs instead of trying to match the appearance of a tracing to what you saw in a textbook or another static course. This is light-years ahead of any arrhythmia / ACLS course we ever took, and provides way more insight into dissecting difficult EKGs than any other online choice available. We feel that you’ll get a superb education if you went through the video lessons and ChalkTalks on ECG Academy.
As of this review, there are two other products that are offered through the website. One is an accredited CE/CME course (they call them “Certificate Courses”) that are approved for MDs, DOs, NPs, PAs, and RNs (and some techs). The difference is that the certificate courses offer the content in easy-to-digest sections of 3 to 5 videos. The videos are followed by “Practice Questions” to test your knowledge. Then once you feel confident there is a graded quiz at the end of the section. The quizzes aren’t easy but once you see the answers you definitely can learn from your mistakes. The certificate courses are offered at Level 1 (worth 16 – 25 hours of continuing education credit, depending on your credentials) and Level 1+2 (awards 28 hours to NPs and PAs, 32 CE contact hours to RNs, and up to 38 hours of CME to physicians. There is a major exam at the end of each level and it’s definitely a nail-biter, but the idea is that EKGs don’t only have just one thing wrong with them and you’ll learn how to read complicated tracings… which is, after all, what you want out of an EKG course.
There is a new product that they offer, for people who want the challenge of quizzes and final exams but don’t need to earn accredited CE/CMEs. They call it a “Hybrid” course, and it’s a little easier to get through because there’s no “passing grade” (unlike the certificate courses that require 75% grade to get credit). The hybrid courses are a little less expensive as well, and are great for people who might be in school or in a non-clinical position (so they don’t need CE/CMEs) but want to advance their knowledge and get into advanced EKG reading. The quizzes and exams definitely help you feel comfortable with the knowledge you obtain from the videos. It’s also a great way to start a new career as a telemetry technician!
Key Features of ECG Academy:
- Well-suited to beginners and advanced readers
- Provides a unique “physiologic” approach to reading EKGs
- Extremely high quality audio and video makes it easy to absorb
- Able to subscribe monthly for very low cost
- Provides accredited Category 1 CE/CMEs in the Certificate Courses
- “ChalkTalks” provide invaluable insights into reading unknown tracings
- New content every week keeps you on the cutting edge
- Expert-level videos provide a glimpse into the world of electrophysiology
- New monthly LIVE ECG Masterclasses are a unique offering to experience readers
Pricing:
There are monthly and annual subscriptions offered that range from $4.95 a month for access to just the weekly ChalkTalks (works out to about a dollar a lesson each month), $9.95 for a Level 1 (“Basic”) subscription, $14.95 for Level 1+2 (“Advanced”), and $19.95 for a Level 1+2+3 (“Expert”) subscription. The annual costs are $40 for ChalkTalks only, $100 for Basic, $150 for Advanced, and $200 for Expert. With an Expert level subscription you get access to everything the website has to offer, including over 600 ChalkTalks, a number of Grand Rounds lectures, and recordings of large number of “Clinical Livestream” case presentations that Dr. Nick recorded in the past. That’s an enormous amount of material for the price so you get a lot of bang for your buck. “Premier” level members pay about $16-20 a month above the Expert level for access to the monthly Masterclass. As far as the Certificate Courses are concerned, for one fixed price you get a year to finish the course, and you’ll pay $247 for the Level 1 (rhythm strips) course and $397 for the Level 1+2 Course. Level 3 is not offered for CE/CME because the content is continually being updated.
There is even a free introductory membership that provides access to all of the videos in the first 5 sections, so that users can check out the quality of the videos and will actually learn all of the anatomy and physiology needed to take the rest of the course.
MedMastery is a very popular website for medical education. It was founded in 2014 by Dr. Franz Wiesbauer. The site has received several awards from organizations in Germany and in the U.K. It is obviously a European-centric website with a large variety of instructors from many different countries and medical specialties. It was created to provide educational material covering many different topics, from nephrology to neurology to radiology, from psychiatry to endocrinology, and yes, even cardiology. It seems like the proverbial “jack of all trades,” and it is a popular “go-to” site for medical students and others looking to pass a board examination. However, as such it does not provide as in-depth EKG training as ECG Academy. Electrocardiography is not their forte. They actually advertise that they “only teach you what’s really relevant and leave out the rest.” It seems that this course is aimed at getting students to read EKGs quickly but it’s not geared for people who want to be comfortable with complex tracings. Again, EKGs is not all they teach, so it’s fine if you want a little of everything, but it’s not nuanced enough to be our number one choice.
Medmastery’s website is generally user-friendly, with a clean and organized interface. The courses are presented in video format, allowing users to watch and learn at their own pace. The videos are well-structured, making it easy to follow along. However, the videos are clearly scripted and read by their “instructors,” so it feels a little stiff and less spontaneous. There is some humor in that most of the slides are illustrated by cute little animated cartoon characters that illustrate what’s being stated in the audio track. But those animations became annoying after a while because they don’t always add anything to the content. We felt like someone was simply reading a textbook to us and the graphics were just over-simplified and distracting.
You can start with a free membership, but that only gives you access to a small handful of lessons. As far as the EKG training is concerned, they have three levels of membership, and they use a karate style categories of “Yellow Belt,” “Blue Belt,” and “Black Belt.” The yellow belt lessons are supposed to be basic, covering EKG measurements and AV block, but then touches on complex topics like hypertrophy, ST and T wave abnormalities, and infarctions. They then discuss axis and electrolyte abnormalities. Someone who wanted to work on a telemetry floor and read complex rhythm strips would be left in the dark after going through that course. The basis of arrhythmias and the “WHY” behind concepts like AV block and axis are not really covered adequately.
It’s not until you take the “Blue Belt” level where common arrhythmias like atrial flutter and fibrillation are introduced. Even so, their approach is very cookbook – using decision trees to decide between different “narrow complex tachycardias” and “wide complex tachycardias” without covering what’s actually going in in the heart. They cover “advanced AV block” and premature beats, and even briefly cover pacemakers, but we were left with wanting to know more. Although they seem to want to teach only what’s relevant, we felt that they left out a bit too much.
The “Black Belt” membership gives you access to a rather small library of 20 case presentations, written by a variety of faculty members. Most of the cases are challenging, with an EKG to evaluate and a multiple choice question. We felt that many of the choices of answers were debatable, and it was easy to click the wrong answer. You can then watch a video in which the faculty member explains the answer. We think that many of those cases were rather obscure and somewhat tangential to the kinds of abnormalities people see every day, and we did not feel they were particularly helpful to instill confidence in inexperienced readers.
Key Features:
- Provides access to a wide variety of medical education lectures
- Well-suited to students looking to study for an examination
- Scripted videos with animated graphics (not necessarily an asset)
- Provides accredited CE/CMEs at a premium membership level
- “Black Belt” case presentations are limited in number and many are too complex to be practical
- Good for clinicians looking for a “refresher” in a variety of medical topics they can “graze”
- Comprehensive downloadable books included
Pricing:
Medmastery offers a subscription-based model, allowing users to access all courses for a fixed monthly fee. Currently, the monthly fee is $35 ($420 per year) for access to all of their courses, and $47 per month ($564 per year) if you want to earn CE/CME. Considering this includes all of their courses, it may seem cost-effective at first glance, but it may not be the best option for everyone. Users who are only interested in learning to read EKGs may find the subscription model to be too expensive, considering that the quality of the EKG training is not the best. Although there is a free trial, it only includes a very limited selection of content.
ECG Weekly Workout is a website that was founded by Dr. Amal Mattu, professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Dr. Ali Farzad, emergency physician at Baylor University Medical Center. When you first log on to that site, the format is a bit unclear, but we found there is a series of “cases” that apparently are presented weekly. You can purchase access to the current case for just $1 per week, or more extended subscriptions that unlock a library consisting of about 400 cases all together.
The cases are varied and are mostly complex… examples of unusual EKGs submitted by a variety of sources within the emergency department, and each case is meticulously reviewed by the well-known Dr. Mattu. The case provides history, some physical exam information, relevant lab values and then a detailed review of the EKG at hand. The analysis is top-notch, and goes into depth of the issues that healthcare professionals should be concerned about when examining an abnormal EKG.
The website actually does not contain a freestanding EKG course, so generally users have to already be familiar with reading basic rhythm strips and 12-lead EKG tracings or they will quickly become lost in the cases. For this reason, we would not recommend ECG Weekly Workout unless you already completed another EKG course or have at least read an EKG textbook and simply need more practice with abnormal tracings. Most of the cases feature EKGs that are very abnormal and border on the esoteric, so keep that in mind before you subscribe.
Key Features:
- Provides access to an extensive library of case presentations at an intermediate to advanced level
- Well-suited to resident physicians, fellows, or practicing MDs looking to enhance their skills
- The videos are well produced and contain a great deal of information
- Provides accredited CE/CMEs at an affordable price
Pricing:
ECG Weekly Workout offers an entry-level subscription for just $1 per week, which allows you to watch this week’s case and also last week’s case. This is the most economical way of exercising your EKG skills, but you really have to stay on top of it. If you miss a week you’ve lost that lesson forever. For just $3 per month, you get this month’s cases and last month’s cases, so you have a bit more leeway to take a month off and then binge-watch a bunch of cases when you have the time. You can plunk down $26 for one year of access to ALL of the cases, which is a very cost effective way of accessing everything the site has to offer.
If you want to claim CMEs for the time you spend, it will cost you $99 per month. However, that allows you to claim 1 hour of credit for each case, which is very generous. You could potentially earn quite a bit of CME for just $99, which is very cost-effective. Again, this is case-based, so it’s more for the practicing provider or perhaps for interns/residents/fellows who want to beef up their skills in anticipation for their next rotation in the emergency department. It’s less useful for nurses, NPs and PAs who won’t be encountering these complex cases but rather need a solid education so they can function on a telemetry unit or in a cardiology office or inpatient service. Group discounts and institutional licenses are available.
BMJ Learning can be reached through the educational website created by the British Medical Journal. It’s European roots are very evident, particularly when you try to sign up and the monthly fees are listed in pounds. The EKG course included on the website is accredited by 22 organizations throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia, but is not accredited by any U.S.-based professional organizations, so completing the courses offered may have limited value to healthcare providers based in North America who need continuing education credits.
The EKG course consists of 16 separate modules, each containing a pretest, a series of short, animated videos and accompanying text boxes. The topics increase in difficulty though the course, and it takes over 14 hours to get through the course. The course covers basic electrocardiogram interpretation and common clinical abnormalities. There is also a list of key abnormalities with examples and a small collection of practice EKGs. We found the videos to be scripted and read by a voiceover artist, so they are rather slow-moving and not much better than reading a textbook online. Some of the animations are cool, but have limited value in learning. Some of the information seems to be abbreviated, and other courses seem to be more comprehensive.
It seems that most of the courses on the website are aimed at students and general practice providers. The ECG course is aimed at a general audience and is not our choice if you want to feel confident with your proficiency at analyzing complex EKG rhythm strips and 12-leads. Interestingly, back in 2018 a study was published in the journal Heart showing some improvement in proficiency in healthcare professionals who went through the course, though the study was primarily targeted at identifying relevant EKG abnormalities in athletes.
Key Features of BMJ Learning:
- Well-suited to beginners and general practice providers
- Courses are apparently peer-reviewed
- Combination of text and animated videos
- Mainly suited for European, Asian and Australian users
- Not accredited for CE/CME for North American providers
Pricing:
There are monthly and annual subscriptions offered that range from £13.99 ($17-18) per month or £79.80 (about $100) per year. This price unlocks over 400 learning modules in the BMJ collection. Like MedMastery, this may provide a myriad of learning opportunities to students looking for many different topics, but if you are only looking for the best EKG course it may not be as cost effective as our highest rated course.
There is a free membership that only provides access to the first section, which is a basic (and somewhat limited) lesson in cardiac anatomy and physiology. It did not entice us to want to keep going, so you need to decide if this is a style of learning that you want to pay for.