Clinical trials and tribulations of the intelligent bedside monitor

We present details of a replacement for the current technology of limit-alarms which are used to monitor the vital functions of patients in intensive care. The new technology fuses the data from the different vital functions such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation to provide an output in the form of a number between 0 and 1. This indicates the degree of change of the state of the patient since an initial period of training. The new technology offers either a reduced false alarm rate or an improved detection of real alarms or a combination of both