An evaluation of computer-based patient monitoring at Pacific Medical Center

✍ Scribed by Mark Hilberman; Barbara Kamm; Michael Tarter; John J. Osborn

• Book ID: 103051116
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 920 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(75)90049-x

✦ Synopsis

The computer-based patient monitoring system has been in use in the Cardiopulmonary Intensive Care Unit at Pacific Medical Center for 8 years. This paper reports results of a two part objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the system. The hrst study documented the system utilization by the clinical staff. The average number of interactions per hour and per postoperative hour were determined. The category of information requested and type of user were also tallied. The second statistical study investigated the impact of the monitoring system on morbidity and mortality. The outcome variables consisted of death rates, stay in unit, days on respirator, days with arterial line, number of arterial blood gases and nurse to patient ratio per day. The results showed essentially no difference between the monitored and control groups. A discussion of the problems in evaluating the impact of monitoring systems is included.