ITU and technology

The intensive care unit provides a fertile ground for the development and refinement of many areas of medical technology. The sense of urgency created by critically ill patients combined with readily visible success and failure drives the quest for improved monitoring and therapeutic tools. Many previously complicated procedures are now taken for granted and the impact of developments in imaging technology are apparent. Nevertheless intensive care spends large amounts of money and the cost effectiveness of innovation although difficult to measure must be considered. Physiological signals are complex and noisy and patients respond to therapies in highly individual ways, the challenges of improved continuous and non-invasive monitoring remain as does the need for a truly paperless ICU