Telemetry for the year 2000: meeting the needs of the customer

As customers of medical technology, all too often we are limited in our equipment selection process by the unwillingness of the vendor to custom-design their equipment to meet our needs. Reductions in capital equipment budgets as well as in operating (salary) budgets will require hospitals to make equipment selections based not only on how the technology can fulfill a patient care need, but also on how the technology can reduce or offset operating costs. The replacement of older telemetry monitoring equipment with state-of-the-art computerized, distributed network display terminals offers a new insight into how telemetry monitoring can better serve the needs of the caregiver, and at the same time contribute to reductions to operating costs. Computerized arrhythmia telemetry monitoring technology has finally advanced to the point where you don't need a full-time person to "monitor the monitor."