Contents :
Contents What are they?
Examples
How do they work?
Advantages
Disadvantages
What are they? :
What are they? A medical monitor or physiological monitor or display, is an electronic medical device that measures a patient's vital signs and displays the data obtained, which may or may not be transmitted on a monitoring network.
These units allow continuous monitoring of a patient, with medical staff being continuously informed of the changes in general condition of a patient.
Examples :
Examples
How do they work? :
How do they work? The computer tales readings continuously from the monitoring system’s sensors/ADC which are connected to the patient and the programmed conditional test decides if action needs to be taken.
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The monitoring system using sensors would be taking readings from a pre-set range of values rather than just a single preset value and would be monitoring the patient’s:
blood pressure
temperature
breathing rate
heartbeat
pulse rate
glucose level
When any of the readings fall out of the preset range of values, a microprocessor sets off an audible alarm to alert the staff.
Advantages :
Advantages Gives 24/7 cover for the patient leaving nurses/doctors free to deal with other matters
Lower costs using monitoring systems rather than having nurses/trained staff having to monitor each patient
Computer systems able to detect small changes and are less prone to mistakes
Computer systems can monitor more than one variable at the same time and while nurses can monitor more than one variable, it would be difficult for them at the same time
Disadvantages :
Disadvantages Some monitors have an electrical contact with the patient, so they can be hazardous if electrical current passes through these electrodes in case of grounding failures
The use of monitors means actual human nurses or doctors spend less time with patients
In case of a special or uncommon emergency, there may be no nearby people to help the patient