Abstract
A premature baby born up to four months early is a fragile patient dependent on intensive care. The body systems are physiologically immature and so tolerate stress badly. The tendency of these infants to rapidly deteriorate, has led us to use a cotside computer monitoring system which displays physiological trends. Information from standard neonatal monitors is accessed by individual cotside PC's linked to a central network server and Doctors terminal. Trend graphs can be easily manipulated, displaying from 7 minutes to 3 days of physiological information on a single screen. Pathology may be observed in real time as it occurs. The system has 3 main areas of use, (1) as a real time clinical aid to patient management, e.g. apnoea of the newborn; (b) as a research tool, demonstrating the effects of procedures on physiology; (c) for educating members of staff about how physiological events develop. Data is saved for the whole of each neonates intensive care stay. Assessment of staff and parent attitudes by questionnaire have been favourable.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gardner RM, Sittig DF, Budd MC. Computers in the Intensive Care Unit: Match or mismatch in: Shoemaker WC, editor. Textbook of critical care. Philadelphia: Saunder, 1989: 240–59.
Pryor TA. Computerised nurse charting. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1989; 6: 173–9.
Sivek ED, Gochberg JS, Fronek R, Scott D. Lessons to be learned from the design, development and implementation of a computerised patient care management system for the Intensive Care Unit. Symp Comput Applic Med Care 1987; 11: 614–9.
Colvin JR, Kenny GNC. Computerised management of Intensive Care Unit data. In: Coleridge Smith PD, Scurr JH, editors. Medical applications of microcomputers. London: Springer Verlag, 1988: 51–9.
Mok Q, Bass CA, Ducker DA, McIntosh N. Temperature instability during nursing procedures in preterm neonates. Arch Dis Child 1991; 66: 783–6.
Murdoch DR, Darlow BA. Handling during neonatal intensive care. Arch Dis Child 1984; 59: 957–61.
Ross DG, Ramayya P, Kulkami V: ABICUS: Aberdeen Intensive Care Unit System. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1990; 7: 69–81.
Avila LS, Shabot M. Keys to the successful implementation of an ICU patient data management system. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1988; 5: 15–25.
McIntosh N, Ducker DA, Bass CA. Mary — A computerised neonatal cot monitoring system. Int Ther Clin Mon 1989 Nov: 272–82.
Shabot MM, Carlton PD, Sadoff S, Nolan-Avila L. Graphical reports and displays for complex ICU data: a new, flexible and configurable method. Comp Meth Prog Biomed 1986; 22: 111–6.
Gilhooly KJ, Logie R, Ross D, Ramayya P, Green C. Users' perceptions of a computerised information system in intensive care (ABICUS) on introduction and after 2 months use. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1991; 8: 101–6.
McIntosh N, van Veen L, Bramayer H. The pain of heel prick and its alleviation in the preterm infant. Pain 1991. Submitted.
Deere S, Cunningham S, Bass C, McIntosh N. Episodes of hypercapnia during routine procedures in pretern infants. In: Lafeber HN, editor. Fetal and Neonatal Physiological Measurements. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers BV, 1991: 195–7.
Cunningham S, Deere S, Bass C, Badger PA, McIntosh N. Cyclical variation of blood pressure and heart rate in intensive care neonates. Early Hum Dev. In press.
Jeffcoate JA, Humphrey ME, Lloyd JK. Disturbance in Parent-child Relationship following Preterm Delivery. Dev Med Child Neurol 1979; 21: 344–52.
Kari A, Ruokonen E, Takala J. Comparison of acceptance and performance of automated and manual data management systems in intensive care. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1990; 7: 157–62.
Van der Weil AR. Multichannel recording and analysis of physiological data using a personal computer. Adv Exp Med Biol 1987; 220: 305–9.
Gardner RM, Shabot MM. Computerised ICU management: pitfalls and promises. Int J Clin Mon Comp 1990; 7: 99–105.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cunningham, S., Deere, S., Elton, R.A. et al. Neonatal physiological trend monitoring by computer. J Clin Monit Comput 9, 221–227 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01133617
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01133617