[Computerized patient-monitoring in the O.R (author's transl)]

The routinely performed data-aquisition and its analysis by means of a computerized patient-monitoring-system will reduce the repetitive and often monotonous task of data collection accompanied by accuracy and objectivity as much as possible. Another and equally important point for the anesthesiologists is to remove some of the pencil-and-paper burden, reduce the possibilities of human errors in reading instruments and note-taking and the rapid retrieval of monitored and stored data for the purpose of trend analysis. In detail this paper deals with two major systems (department of anesthesia, Latter-Day-Saints Hospital, Salt-Lake City, Utah, and the department of anesthesia, Center of System Research, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., U.S.A.) where the computer is used to extend present monitoring capabilities and frees the staff of those tasks which can be done more efficiently by a machine. It is shown that the more experienced the computer center and the less complex the programming will be, the more liable the anesthesiologist trapped in the routine work will profit from this device. The System in Salt-Lake City proved to be a reliable tool while the system in Stanford so far has shown only to be valid in the remote surveillance of nurse anesthetists in the OR.