The Unibed patient monitoring system: a new approach for a new technology

The Unibed patient monitoring system represents a new approach to the design of medical instrumentation based upon recent advances in microcomputer and related large-scale integration technology. This system is intended to replace an entire range of traditional monitoring devices with a single general-purpose unit capable of recognizing the nature of the signal source and performing appropriately. All of the usual switches, knobs, dials, and meters have been replaced by a touch-sensitive character display. The hardware responsible for physiological signal analysis, information display, and user interaction is actually a set of firmware modules implemented in terms of microcomputer programs. This firmware gives the system its functional personality and transforms it from a compact process-control system into a useful medical instrument. Prototypes are now being clinically tested and evaluated at the Dijkzigt Academic Hospital, Rotterdam, Netherlands.