The ECG axis needs to be calculated from the raw ECG data and small abnormalities may not be obvious when looking at the trace itself. However, most modern ECG machines calculate this sort of stuff automatically and will include an axis report on the printout. This will get automatically flagged if it’s sufficiently abnormal so anyone looking at the printout should be able to tell that there could be a problem. But the machine could mark it with something like “borderline abnormal” or “atypical” and the nurses might not have felt comfortable interpreting this – and it’s not really their job.
Anyway, try to stay positive. Without any other signs of underlying heart problems the axis deviation could turn out to be insignificant.
[ 18 August 2001: Message edited by: stagger ]