Patient Monitors- http://cardiologyforless.com/Vital-Sign-Monitors/
We first began to use patient monitors in
the 1950s. These machines are an easy way for doctors and nurses to into the
vital signs of patients. These machines provides critical information on the
health and welfare of patients in the hospital. The technology used in patient
monitors has come a long way since the 1950sw and today a patient can even be
monitored at home by the hospital to see how the patient is progressing once
they leave the care of the hospital.
History
The initial monitors were crude by today’s
standards and they had monochrome displays which monitored the patient’s heart
rate and could alert the hospital staff to any changes in the patient’s status
at the hospital. These monitors could be connected to an electrocardiograph for
printing of the results and these monitors stayed about the same until they
changed in the 1960s and became more advanced.
In the 1970s we began to use digital
electronics for these machines and this made reading the data easier. These
machines could also provide arrhythmia analysis and then in the 1980s this
analysis could be done at the bedside and the machines became computerized as
technology advanced rapidly. In the 1980s color was introduces as well to
distinguish various readouts.
In the 1990s these machines were being
connected to other machines such as ventilators as well as many other pieces of
equipment to monitor patients. These monitors in the 1990s also became smaller
and there were models that were transportable. Today we have models that can be
worn by patients when they go home to keep track of various health readings. An
example of this is the heart monitor which the patient can wear and the
hospital can track various data from the monitor to see the data to day
behaviors of a person’s heart to diagnose problems with the heart. This
monitoring can be done in real time
Types
of Monitors
There are many types of patient monitors
such as:
·
Handhelds – These can be used by hand to
monitor the status of a patient. These are very small devices.
·
Portable – these are easy to transport
around and may be worn by patients so the hospital can see their vital signs at
all times. Hey may wear these once they leave the hospital and go home.
·
Monitor/Defibrillator – These are
usually portable and they allow a medical person such as paramedic revive a
person that has had a heart attack.
·
Tabletop – These are larger monitors
but they can also be portable if this is required.
·
Networkable/ Non-Networkable – These
allow for reading to be sent to a station where several monitors are watched at
the same time.
·
Wired/Wireless Data Transmission – These
allow the monitor data to be transmitted wirelessly to a central location. This
allows the data of a patient to be transferred with ease.
There are many types of monitor and these
devices provide the hospital doctors and nurses with the data they need to look
after patients so they get the best possible care when they are in the hospital
and sometimes when they leave the hospital as well.
