When preparing a patient to wear a Holter monitor, what should you instruct the patient to do?

Instructing the patient to depress the event marker for significant symptoms is essential when preparing them to wear a Holter monitor. This action allows the patient to document episodes of symptoms like palpitations, dizziness, or chest pain, which they experience during the monitoring period. By marking these events, the healthcare provider can correlate the symptoms with the heart's electrical activity captured by the Holter monitor, providing vital information for diagnosing any arrhythmias or other cardiac issues.

This practice is integral to the Holter monitoring process, as the continuous recording of the heart's rhythm is coupled with the patient's subjective experiences. It enhances the utility of the monitoring by creating a direct link between the patient's symptoms and the ECG findings, ultimately leading to a more accurate assessment of the heart's functionality during various activities.