A new venous infusion pathway monitoring system.
A new infusion catheter pathway monitoring system employing linear integrated circuits and a low-power 8-bit single chip microcomputer has been developed for hospital and home use. The sensor consists of coaxial three-layer conductive tapes wrapped around the polyvinyl chloride infusion tube. The inner tape is the main electrode, which records an AC (alternating current) voltage induced on the patient's body by electrostatic coupling from the normal 100 volt, 60 Hz AC power line wiring field in the patient's room. The outside tape layer is a reference electrode to monitor the AC voltage around the main electrode. The center tape layer is connected to system ground and functions as a shield. The microcomputer calculates the ratio of the induced AC voltages recorded by the main and reference electrodes and if the ratio indicates a detached infusion, alerts the nursing station, via the nurse call system or low transmitting power mobile phone.
Maki
Hiromichi
H
Department of Clinical Engineering, International Trinity College, Hiroshima 730-0014, Japan. hiromiti.maki@nifty.com
Yonezawa
Yoshiharu
Y
Ogawa
Hidekuni
H
Ninomiya
Ishio
I
Sata
Koji
K
Hamada
Shingo
S
Caldwell
W Morton
WM
D003201:Computers; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D055672:Static Electricity; D013686:Telemetry