Medical monitors provide readings of bodily functions to determine healthiness. They can be used in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and at home. Examples include SAT monitors, thermometers, and blood pressure monitors. Some monitors are portable and can be worn at home. However, monitors have error rates and cannot fully replace personal observation.
A medical monitor could be any machine, small or large, most often plug/electricity or battery powered that provides readings of some function or aspect of the body. These readings may prove useful in determining the healthiness of bodily function. There are many types of medical monitors used in hospitals, some are visible in doctor’s offices and some can even be used at home on a short or long term basis to provide healthcare professionals with important information that will help them make treatment decisions.
One medical monitor that might be used in a doctor’s office or hospital is a SAT monitor or pulse oximeter. Part of this is a device that looks slightly like an alligator’s mouth, or a small adhesive bandage when used on young children, that is placed on the finger to measure oxygen saturation levels. A SAT reading is provided after a minute or two and can help determine if a person has lower than normal blood oxygen levels. Similar to this is the very common electric or battery-operated thermometer, capable of assessing body temperature and looking for irregularities. Many doctors now also use a machine-powered blood pressure monitor to get a more accurate blood pressure reading. All of these monitors are used for only a few minutes in most doctor’s offices, but could be used for longer periods of time in a hospital.
Examples of medical monitors in hospitals are numerous. Some machines measure things like heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation levels at the same time to save space when measuring multiple vital signs. These could be used on the seriously ill or those undergoing surgery. There are some short-term monitors that can be used for diagnostic purposes. ECG (electrocardiogram) and EEG (electroencephalogram) are often used for only a few minutes to get basic readings related to heart and brain function. However they can be used for longer periods of time if needed; for example, sleep studies often involve using EEGs for an entire night. Another example of a medical monitor is the fetal monitor used during labor and delivery, which can take many hours.
Some monitors are portable and can be taken home or worn at home to provide a more comfortable place to test. When people are at risk for irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias, they might wear a 24-hour holter medical monitor, which can record any irregular heartbeats. Some people need to wear a similar device called an event monitor for a longer period of time if it has been difficult to register changes in heart rhythm. When any kind of unusual rhythm state occurs, a button on the small monitor (which can fit in a pocket or on a belt) is pressed and that unusual event is recorded. Often, the event can then be replayed by telephone to a service that reports the results electronically to a physician.
While monitors are excellent for tracking health problems of many types, they do have error rates. A person’s movement during an ECG could look like an arrhythmia, pulse oximeter clips can fall off, or any number of other things can spoof the readings. This means that monitors cannot fully replace personal observation and it remains a vital part of medical care.
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