Anesthesia Monitors
All procedures that involve anesthesia require reliable anesthesia monitors to maintain patient safety. There are several types of anesthesia monitors and related medical equipment in use. The choice of appropriate monitoring equipment depends on the type of cases to be performed in a particular setting.
Anesthesia monitors can be characterized as devices that primarily monitor the delivery of substances (gases, drugs and fluids) to the patient, or instruments that measure and display the physiological state of the patient. These devices may be part of a multivariable monitor, an anesthesia machine / anesthesia workstation, or a separate console. Alarms incorporated into monitoring systems detect and alert to out-of-range variables or conditions.
Anesthesia Monitors Questions & Answers
Read here to get the best information on the functions and distinctions of patient and anesthesia monitors:
A standard patient monitor normally tracks vital signs, such as NIBP (non-invasive blood pressure), SPO2 (oxygen saturation in the arteries), and temperature. Higher end monitors can have added features that monitor EKG (electrocardiogram), IBP (invasive blood pressure), CO2 (carbon dioxide), and 5 agent gas.
The difference is really the setting where these monitors are utilized. Anesthesia monitors are simply patient monitors that are used during surgery to track the patient’s vital signs, such as blood pressure and temperature, while they are under sedation in the operating theater. Patient monitors, on the other hand, are used in pre- or post-op settings, such as the recovery room.
It all depends on the monitor that you purchase, but technology has definitely progressed in this area. Recently, manufacturers have started to include either ethernet ports or wireless features to allow monitors to interface with EMR and transfer information from the monitor to the records.
Quite often, the patient monitors that are used in hospital settings are monitored by nursing stations. Normally, monitors do not talk to one another, however many telemetry (automated transmission) monitors allow for patient data to be sent to nursing stations wirelessly.
Unfortunately, most monitors are not compatible with MRI machines. Supply companies such as Datascope and Invivo are among the very few that sell monitors with this compatibility.
Features such as EKG, NIBP, and temperature typically require no calibration. On the other hand, CO2 and anesthetic gases need to be calibrated with the appropriate calibration gas approximately every 60-90 days. This calibration is a critical maintenance practice.
The most basic NIBP and SPO2 monitors can be purchased for under $1000. Anesthesia monitors are more costly, and they typically run between $5500 to $8500. Cost can vary, depending on features such as CO2 and gas agents monitoring.