A microcomputer implementation of status and alarm algorithms in a cardiac surgical intensive care unit

Algorithms have been developed for monitoring the cardiovascular status of patients on their return to an intensive care unit after cardiac surgery and also for giving an immediate alarm of a critical deterioration in this status. The two systems for implementing these algorithms were initially developed on Z80 based microprocessor systems and preliminary clinical trials based on the resulting instruments proved encouraging. For further clinical trials of the algorithms the systems have been integrated and implemented on a BBC microcomputer with a 6502 second processor. The development and structure of the programs for implementing the algorithms are described, together with the program input and output facilities and diagnostic techniques used to analyse the information output from the program.