Vital Role of Patient Monitoring Systems

Patient monitoring is the root of patient care. It is imperative for members of the healthcare team to always perform constant assessment and measurements on the patient’s physiological parameters to guide them in patient diagnosis and to determine the appropriate therapeutic interventions.

To guide the team, patient monitoring needs to adapt a systematized approach through patient monitoring systems. Technically, a patient monitor works by alerting healthcare workers of a potentially life-threatening occurrence. It is sometimes used to input physiologic data to directly control linked life-support devices.

The importance of patient monitoring system

The patient monitoring system is essential in delivering quality and comprehensive patient care. This vital monitoring system keeps track of the following physiological signals: Respiration, Electrocardiograph (ECG), Blood Pressure, Body Temperature, Oxygen Saturation in the Blood (SpO2), and other gases.

Basically, a patient monitoring system utilizes multiple electrodes and sensors to receive physiological signals, as used in ECG electrodes, blood pressure cuffs, SpO2 finger sensors, and temperature probes. Particularly, the main physiological signal being monitored, especially in the intensive care unit, is the electrocardiogram. The electrodes used for cardiac monitoring in critically ill patients need to be suited for the long haul monitoring applications, which require high quality ECG cables and leadwires.

Generally, the entire patient monitoring system is geared to play important roles in healthcare delivery.

Patient monitoring in intensive care

The use of physiologic monitoring comes most important in the intensive care unit, where there is crucial need to constantly monitor unstable physiologic regulatory systems, especially in patients who have just been suppressed with anesthesia from an operation. Patient monitoring devices, especially high quality ECG cables and leadwires, are also necessary in monitoring patients showing signs that indicate a possible life-threatening condition, such as an acute myocardial infarction, as well as those at high risk for such conditions from having recently undergone a post open-heart surgery.

Accurate parameters and decisions need to be done when caring for the critically ill. To address this, patient monitoring devices are used to frequently and constantly obtain physiological data, to relay such information to remote locations through remote patient monitoring systems, to accurately classify and measure the severity of the disease, and to analyze the effectiveness of ICU care decisions.

The future in patient monitoring

Patient monitoring systems have evolved in usability and functionality over time, and the future holds many surprises for the medical field. Aside from the growing advancements in remote patient monitoring, the general patient monitoring system trends already include promising features, such as the blood gas analyser, wearable patient monitoring devices, drug dosage calculator, and advancements in the drug management system and telemedicine.

There are also newly designed patient monitoring systems that configures data according to the needs of the staff and workflow. For instance, incoming alarms are already color-coded to match one’s standards and practices, allowing easy interpretation in the end of the healthcare team.

As much as patient monitoring is essential to the healthcare field, the use of top-of-the-range patient monitoring devices is just as crucial. It’s best to invest in quality than to suffer unnecessary risks in the future.