User manual

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8. Principles and applications of the vital functions monitors

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Theoreticalintroduction

Monitors of the patient’s vital functions play an important role not only during the

surgical operation, but also during the post-operation recovery. Their essential aim is to unite

several partial systems into one complex whole. By these systems, we mean the ECG, which

can have one, five or up to twelve leads, depending on the complexity and the determination

means of the actual monitor. Further on, it is the system for measuring oxygen saturation in

blood by means of an optical method using red and IR light. Then we have the systems for

non-invasive blood pressure measurement using classical sleeves and the system of evaluating

the blood pressure similar to automatic tonometers. Besides the non-invasive blood pressure

measurement, these monitors also allow for connecting standard sets for invasive blood

pressure measurement, which is much more accurate. As a standard, there is the possibility of

connecting temperature sensors, either for surface scanning of the patient’s temperature, or for

rectal scanning as well. Further on, there are specific types of monitors, the so called

anaesthesiological monitors, which also allow for scanning spirometry quantities and

breathing activities, and moreover, these monitors are also equipped with gas composition

analyzers (i.e. O

, CO

, or other volatile media used for managing anaesthesia). However, the

reason why these monitors are special compared to, say, the single-purpose apparatus, is that

besides a great degree of integration, they are further equipped with a full range of warning

visual and sound alarms. These alarms check the set thresholds of the currently monitored

quantities and in case of any deviations from standard, they alert the attending staff, which

can thus interfere in time, and even safe the patient’s life in case of a life-threatening

condition. Further on, these monitors allow for recording and logging the individual

parameters throughout the treatment, and they are also equipped with standard interfaces for

communicating with the main, central terminal for distance monitoring without being by the

patient’s bed. It would probably be useless to again describe the principles of the individual

probe and measurement types, which have already been described in this textbook for the

individual, single-purpose systems.

Generallegislationwithintheframeworkofpatientmonitors,situationregarding

STC