| abstract |
A medical-electronic body fluid accounting system for use in surgical procedures and in post-operative and non-surgical care to afford a running account of the fluid intake to a patient and fluid outtake therefrom. The system is provided with a microcomputer to which is applied digital data derived from a plurality of fluid input source channels and fluid output source channels which together represent the prevailing fluid input and output sources associated with the patient. Included in the input source channels are those monitoring the flow of fluids being fed intraveneously into the patient, each such input channel having a sensor which generates a signal representing the volume of a particular fluid, such as a saline solution, being infused into the patient, this signal being converted into a corresponding digital value. Included in the output source channels is one having a sensor generating a signal representing the amount of fluid discharged through a urinary or other catheter, and another generating a signal representing the amount of exudate drawn from the surgical site, and still another to measure the amount of blood taken from the patient by sponges. On the basis of data acquired by the input and output channels, the computer yields a fluid intake total and a fluid outtake total, which totals are displayed to indicate the prevailing fluid balance. |