Methods of identifying and/or assessing cardiac arrhythmias using an implantable medical device

A non-transitory computer-readable medium programmed with instructions for performing a method of identifying and/or assessing patient arrhythmias, the medium comprising instructions for causing a programmable processor to:

• obtain a set of values, the values representative of a heart parameter of a patient collected over successive time intervals, the set gathered from a memory of a medical device implanted within the patient,
• process the set of values to identify values that exceed a predetermined amplitude threshold value, such identified values thereby meeting a first criterion;
• for each identified value, compare the identified value with the value from a preceding time interval to determine if such identified value exceeds the preceding time interval value by a difference threshold amount, such identified value thereby meeting a second criterion;
• and
• provide an indication of presence of an arrhythmia for storage intervals having values in which the first and second criteria are met.