An Example of the Use of Computer in Surgical Pediatric Workground

The decline in infant mortality, which began in the 1970’s, was a result of the development of intensive therapy which, with always more sophisticated methods of biochemical, biophysical and clinical monitoring, permitted on the one hand a more attentive control of the patient, and on the other hand, a more complete knowledge of the events surrounding the patient, thereby reducing the work time. With this in mind, in the mid 1970’s, together with other pediatric centers, we decided to construct, on various work levels (pre-operative, operative and post-operative) a control system for surgical pediatric patients (1). This system would refer to a certain computer which could be continually re-programmed, based on the most up-to-date biomedical knowledge and on the work habits of the team. In addition to hardware problems, which were overcome according to the principles of biomedical engineering, we found the biggest problem to be the construction of the oriented software. Such software had to be efficient; it could not be subject to the tendency towards obsolescence which often affects a closed system. Our most important aim has been to transform the biomedical concepts into mathematical terms, which can then be evaluated so as to enable the construction of programs which, by controlling biological equilibrium (considering even individual variations), can therapeutically counter-regulate the events. The advantage of having a system like this is that it conforms to the characteristics a monitor for pediatric surgery demands.