Developing an Intelligent Patient Monitoring System for Assisting Clinicians

In recent years there has been a significant research effort devoted to the development of patient monitoring systems which have their functionality augmented with artificial intelligence techniques. These intelligent patient monitors are intended to assist clinicians by diagnosing and tracking complex pathophysiological events over timeand perhaps even making therapeutic recommendations (e.g. Fagan, 1984; Hayes-Roth, 1989; Coiera, 1990 and Beech, 1990). Intelligent monitors promise to improve the manner in which clinicians practise medicine, especially in areas such as Intensive Care and in the Operating Room, both of which are dependent on sophisticated monitoring technology. While much work has gone into the design of the computational components of such systems, much less has been done on the design of appropriate user interfaces. This needs to be redressed, since the manner in which clinicians interact with intelligent monitors will have a great impact on their eventual utility. A recent focus of interest in the field of human-computer interaction has been the development of user and dialogue models as a basis for the development of user-interfaces (Wahlster, 1986). This study aims to introduce the concept of smartly and intelligently designing such a clinical system. The study concludes with suggestions for further exploration of designing intelligent system for patient monitoring purposes.