Patient monitors are devices used to measure, record, and display various patient parameters such as heart rate and rhythm, SPO2, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, et cetera to keep a track of the patient’s health and provide them with high-quality health care.
What are patient monitors used for?
Patient monitors are most often used in hospitals but are also frequently found in the homes of patients who suffer from a chronic illness, diabetes, etc in order to keep an eye on their vitals and to detect further complications. So let us find out some of the most common uses of patient monitors in the medical world:
1. Get a comprehensive interpretation of the patient’s health
2. Monitor the patient's progress after beginning a treatment
3. Monitor a patient’s vital signs during surgery to mitigate the risks of complications
4. Keep a check on the patient’s postoperative recovery
5. Understand the patient’s response to a certain treatment and then adjust the dosage accordingly
6. Achieve a diagnosis
7. Monitor the glucose levels of a patient suffering from diabetes
8. Monitor the patient’s heart rate while looking for arrhythmia
9. Provide constant care to the patients who need more support
10. Keep an eye on the patients who are bedridden
11. Track the brain waves of a comatose patient
12. Portable patient monitors allow paramedics to transmit data to the hospitals, look for a diagnosis, and help prevent further complications
The above-mentioned uses are very few of the numerous things that patient monitors are used for.
Now that we understand what patient monitors are used for, let's find out how they work:
1. Sensors
Patient monitors consist of sensors that are programmed to capture various patient parameters such as pulse rate et cetera and pass it on to the capital equipment to be interpreted further. The sensor is found in the part of the device that is attached to the patient's body from where it collects the data that needs to be interpreted. For example, a Spo2 Sensor detects the oxygen levels in your blood and delivers it on the screen for the doctor to treat you accordingly.
2. Capital Equipment
Once the patient’s data is collected by the sensors, it is sent to the capital equipment to be stored, processed, and interpreted. The capital equipment is the monitor at which the data collected by the sensor is presented to the doctors. The data is transmitted through a number of wires and PCBs interconnected within the patient monitoring system.
3. Software
The software is what processes the data collected by the sensors and converts it into readable information that is displayed on the capital equipment. The data collected by the sensors is mostly in complex code which needs to be simplified in order for the doctors to be able to understand the patient’s vital signs.
Patient monitors are one of the most essential medical devices that result in saving millions of lives every day. Every hospital needs a patient monitoring system to be able to provide the best healthcare to their patients. At the end of this blog, we hope this helped you understand how patient monitors work and why they are so important.
