Monitoring the critically III patient with the aid of a digital computer

✍ Scribed by Herbert Shubin; Max Harry Weil; Norman Palley; Abdelmonem A. Afifi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 872 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(71)90058-9

✦ Synopsis

A comprehensive system, including a digital computer, has been developed for intensive monitoring of critically ill patients. Hemodynamic, respiratory, metabolic and electrocardiographic variables are monitored. An automatically operated sample controller is used to facilitate pressure monitoring, flushing of catheters, calibration of pressure transducers and withdrawal of blood samples for blood gas and lactate analyses. The data is displayed in digital, textual and graphic form at the bedside. Physicians, nurses and technicians may enter and retrieve numerical and textual data and initiate procedures. lnfusion of intravenous fluids is accomplished with the use of peristaltic pumps under computer control, in response to changes in hemodynamic parameters. A multivariate index of the likelihood of patient survival is computed and displayed in real time. Clinical staff are alerted to significant changes in the values of the automatically monitored variables by a multivariate alarm system.