Arterial-line monitoring system simulation

Objective. We sought to improve the realism of our patient simulation envir onment by developing a simulation of the arterial-line monitoring system. P roperties of the system we wished to depict were: electro-mechanical delay between ECG and radial artery pressure, beat to beat amplitude variability and respiratory variation, realistic looking pulse pressure in hypertensive and hypotensive states, a functional link to the stopcock and transducer f lush, and filtering characteristics of the measurement system. Methods. A s tandard clinical pressure transducer and stopcock were modified to provide data about their state to a personal computer. A software program was writt en to modify the arterial pressure waveform from a patient simulator accord ing to the pressure transducer and stopcock state as well as user settings to produce a new waveform. Results. All of the desired improvements in the realism of the arterial waveform were implemented. Conclusions. The realism of scenarios using the patient simulator is enhanced by having the arteria l-line monitoring system more accurately simulated.