Evaluation of conventional and computerised monitoring of cardiac function in the coronary care unit

One of the important functions of the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) is the continuous and intensive monitoring of cardiac function. To date, many monitoring techniques have been developed and tested. In this paper, both the conventional and computerised monitoring techniques are reviewed and evaluated. It is shown that a computerised system has several defirute advantages over the conventional system, e.g. lower false alarm rate, accurate and fast data processing, retrospective studies. However one also ought to be aware of the limitations,