A respiratory intensive care unit computing system: clinical experience at Loma Linda University Medical Center

At Loma Linda University Medical Center we have successfully developed a computerized monitoring system for our respiratory intensive care unit (RICU). Three important goals must be accomplished to achieve success in designing a useful computer system: (1) a workable hardware system must be designed, (2) the hardware and programs must be molded to fit the needs and abilities of the clinicians using the system, and (3) the necessary data must be made available to the system. Our typical applications of the RICU computer system include storage of pathology and clinical laboratory data, management and calculation of hemodynamic variables, census taking, retrieval of information on returning patients, nutritional assessement, monitoring and evaluation of respired gases, assessment of drug administration, interpretation of arterial blood gases and related measurements, and monitoring of EKGs. We believe it is essential to clearly define the needs of a clinical unit and goals of its computer system in order to design and select the proper computer hardware and software.