More than classical patient monitoring: steps towards intelligent approaches

The evolution of patient monitoring systems toward intelligent models that integrate new levels for the processing of information is analyzed. The approach has been applied to the design of a system for the monitoring/follow-up of patients interned in coronary care units (CCUs). From the information acquired by one means or another, the system shapes the model it has internally of the patient. This model, implicit in the information processing levels, adapts to a greater or lesser degree to the individual characteristics of each patient and to changes in the patient´s clinical state. Monitoring of levels with different semantic complexity and intelligent monitoring in the CCU context are discussed