Electrical Impulses Keep Your Heart Pumping
Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood throughout your body. Since blood carries the oxygen and nourishment that keep your cells alive and functioning, its circulation is vital to staying alive.
The heart has a natural pacemaker built in, called the sinus node,
which produces the electrical impulses that keep it beating at a healthy pace. These impulses cause the heart to contract and pump blood at regular intervals, which is the rhythm of your heart.
Sometimes, however, something interferes with these electrical impulses and your heart’s pumping capacity is reduced. Problems that affect the heart rhythm include:
a complete block of the heart’s electrical pathways (heart block)
a slow heartbeat (bradycardia)
an irregular rhythm (arrythmia).
If your heart is not pumping properly, your physician may recommend a pacemaker to “pace” your heart and keep your blood circulating so that your body gets the oxygen and nourishment it needs to stay healthy.
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What is a Pacemaker?
A pacemaker is a small, electronic device that is implanted in the chest to regulate the heart. The battery-operated control unit of a pacemaker, which is about the size of a silver dollar, is generally implanted under the collarbone. Wire leads with electrical sensors are then threaded to the heart.
Once the pacemaker is implanted, the device senses the beating rhythm of the heart and, when needed, emits precisely timed electrical pulses to correct any abnormally slow rhythm that occurs. Whether the heart is beating too slowly or is pausing for too long, these painless electrical pulses stimulate the heart and keeps it beating at the proper rate.
Follow-up Care for Your Pacemaker
Once you have had a pacemaker implanted, you will require specialized services such as those offered at the Pacemaker Center. As an essential part of your treatment plan, post-implant visits assure the optimal performance of your device.
The Pacemaker Center offers a full range of post-implant services. Routine permanent pacemaker follow-up consists of both:
On-Site Visits Telephone Testing On-Site Visits
During a typical Pacemaker Center visit, a Registered Nurse conducts the following:
Electrocardiogram
(called an EKG or ECG)
Pacemaker Reprogramming
The pacemaker contains a computer chip that enables the nurse to use a special computer to check your device and confirm that it is meeting your body’s requirements. Changes in rate and electrical energy are sometimes indicated. If an adjustment is needed, it can be made painlessly from outside your body.
Battery Check
Pacemaker batteries do wear down over time, so they need to be monitored and checked. A special analyzer is used that can detect if the batteries are getting weak. This does not happen abruptly; rather it is a slow process. It will not put you in danger as long as you maintain the monitoring schedule advised by your physician and are followed in the Pacemaker Center.
Telephone Testing
Transtelephonic testing enables you to have your pacemaker settings monitored via telephone from the convenience of your home or other location. The test takes only 5 minutes. During your initial visit, you will be given the transmitter used for this purpose, and you will be instructed on its use.
The telephone transmitter sends your EKG
and pacemaker signals over the phone lines to the Pacemaker Center. A nurse or technician then reads the record of these signals and sends the analysis to your physician. Telephone monitoring is intended to supplement your on-site visits, not replace them.
How often do I need follow-up appointments?
Depending on the type of pacemaker you have, follow-up visits are scheduled accordingly to maximize your safety. Visits are more frequent during the first year, when an initial visit is followed by 3, 6 and 12-month visits. After that, follow-up visits to the Pacemaker Center generally are scheduled every 6 to 12 months, depending on the type of pacemaker you have. Telephone monitoring is usually scheduled every 2 months for the first 3 years, then every month thereafter.
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Receiving Reports
The Pacemaker Center has a sophisticated system for providing reports and test results to referring physicians. He or she will receive a copy of every test once it is read by a physician who specializes in pacemakers. All test results are entered into computer system and faxed to the physicians’ offices.
Traveling Patients Welcome
If you are traveling and need to seek services away from home, the staff of the Pacemaker Center is readily available to help. They will communicate with your physician and provide any of the aforementioned services as prescribed.
Registration and Insurance Coordination
To enroll in the Pacemaker Center, you need a prescription from your primary care physician and a referral, if required, from your insurance company. When you call to schedule your first appointment, have your pacemaker identification card and insurance cards handy since we will be asking you for this information. Be certain to bring these cards to your initial visit.
Services of the Pacemaker Center are billed directly to your insurance company, and Medicare is accepted. If you are not covered by Medicare or other insurance, payment is expected at the time of service; however, payment plans can be arranged upon request.
For all Pacemaker Center visits and telephone tests, you or your insurance company will receive two bills. One from Hackensack University Medical Center for the technical portion and one from Hackensack Cardiology Diagnostic Group for the services of a physician who will interpret the results of your exam.
To inquire about which insurance plans participate with the Pacemaker Center and/or Hackensack Cardiology Diagnostic Group, call the following numbers:
Hackensack University Medical Center: 201-996-3355
Hackensack Cardiology Diagnostic Group: 1-800-213-5135
