Computers in medicine and health

Patient records
Computer made patient records are made by computers because they are
ACCURATE and this is IMPORTANT because the patients could get the wrong
medicines.
It records things like:
Patient ID (number or text) - this would be the key field
Name (text)
Date-of-birth (date)
Gender (boolean)
Blood group (text)
Allergies (text)
Medical history (text)
Doctor currently treating (text)
Current symptoms (text)
Current diagnosis (text)
Current treatment (text)
Current medication (text)

Name of the patient

X-rays or body scans (links to image/video files)

Symptoms of
the illness

Advantages of computer made patient records

Records can be SHARED throughout the hospital to nurses pharmacies and

doctors.
It is EASY to SEARCH for and RETRIEVE patient records.
Doctors can instruct a pharmacy to ISSUE MEDICATION for a patient (no paper
note needs to be written)
Monitoring systems in hospitals
SENSORS are attached to the patient. SENORS are used to monitor:
Pulse rate (heart beats per minute)
Temperature
Breathing rate (breathes per minute)
Blood oxygen levels
Blood pressure

OUTPUTS include
A large display / monitor show GRAPHS of pulse, breathing, etc.
A loud BUZZER / ALARM can be sounded if there is a problem to attract the
attention of a nurse/doctor
A small printer can produce a HARD-COPY OF THE DATA

Questionnaires are used in the NHS called a symptom checker

It asks the person for their name and their SYMPTOMS

INFORMATION about all illness is STORED and if the patient writes down
the right SYMPTOMS then it will warn the person about a possibility of
having that illness.

Computers in Medicine
3D printers can be used to produce:
Surgical and diagnostic aids
Development of prosthetics and medical products
Tissue engineering
Artificial blood vessels
The design of medical tools and equipment
3D printers have the advantages of:

They can produce products at a cheaper and faster rate than other
manufacturing methods.
They can produce things that we cant produce any other way.
It allows surgeons to print out models of their patients heart, skull, lungs etc.
and anticipate the troubles they may face.
It improves the accuracy of surgery as they can visualise the procedure theyre
about to do much better.
3D model of a childs skull that is going to be operated

Experimenting with a model he had cut up, Dr. Meara noticed that in their ideal
positions, the bones of the eye sockets would bump into each other, limiting
Violets vision. He modified his cuts to avoid that collision.
This shows that they can pre-empt any hurdles they may face when in theatre,
and the fact that they knew that they would face that problem avoided a girl
dying.

Blood pressure
Breathing rate
Blood oxygen levels

If the sensor reaches a to high number then it sets of a alarm or buzzer

alert the doctors that something is wrong

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