Reliability of human and machine measurements in patient monitoring

In a study on 29 patients for 152 hours a continuous monitoring system has been shown to have a reliability of 90.53% for pulse rate and 82.20% for arterial blood pressure, but for approximately half of the period of unreliable monitoring a not obviously artifactual reading was being displayed. The relevance of this to possible incorrect diagnosis and management is discussed. The monitor and a nurse using traditional chart keeping methods gave equivalent charts with respect to average levels and trends, but the monitor assisted chart showed a much greater variability. The latter tended to obscure underlying trends and render clinical diagnosis from the chart more difficult.