| Abstract | This monitoring system, which is centered on a small computer with a 23-bit word size and 8 K of core memory, is controlled by core resident programming which carries out continuous monitoring of several analog signals from 4 patients while a variety of programs are paged into core from disk or tape when needed. The continuous programs monitor the electrocardiogram for arrhythmias, the respiratory rate, temperature, indirect blood pressure and intra-arterial pressure with a cardiac output estimation. Paged programs provide respiratory mechanics, intermittent cardiac output and an analysis of blood gases in addition to service functions such as those which control the TV display and those which type graphs for the medical record. Peripheral instrumentation has been developed from commercially available equipment with some modifications and additions. The sysem is designed for growth. Expansion from continuous monitoring of 4-8 patients could be provided by adding 4 K of memory to core. The paging system will permit the addition of many new programs to handle intermittent functions. [The computer used in this application was a DEC PDP-12 with an ASR 35 teletype, KW12A Clock, KE12 arithmetic option, digital to analog converter, analog to digital converter with 32 analog input channels, and DF32 disk drive with 32 K of storage. A TV display was driven by an A. B. Dick Display Control #900 which had its own memory buffer.) |