The future direction of the clinical engineering profession will be tightly coupled with
Information Technology (IT) more than ever before in the history of the profession.
Convergence of the two professions is driven by factors such as advances in the state of
the art in device technology, the need for integration of bedside data with clinical documentation,
existing and emerging standards in the area of data communication, demand
for accurate and reliable clinical indicator data by regulatory agencies, caregiver and customer
knowledge and understanding of emerging clinical technologies, and consolidation
of device manufacturers and clinical information systems vendors in the marketplace.
This evolution is compelling the clinical engineering profession and hospital clinical
engineering departments to expand their scope, knowledge, and expertise in the area of
clinical information systems (CIS) and to become active participants in the selection,
implementation, and support of bedside and clinical information systems.
This chapter addresses the technologies of bedside monitoring and CIS and their interdependencies.
The state of the art in technology in both areas, reasons for the integration
of the two technologies, and the necessary groundwork for managing these technologies
are discussed. A brief overview of an electronic patient record (EPR) and the impact that
physiological monitoring and clinical information systems have on EPR are presented.