Almost all our surgical patients, and many others have advanced monitoring techniques used throughout their procedures. The best monitor is always going to be a well-trained and diligent nurse, however they have an array of equipment to assist them.
These include –
- Mainstream or sidestream capnography:- this measures the amount of expired CO2, so letting us know whether a patient has adequate ventilation and perfusion
- Pulse oximetry:- a continuous check of the oxygen saturation of the blood
- BP:- by various means, including systolic and diastolic abilities. We do not currently do invasive direct measurements, however this may be added in the future
- Continuous ECG during anaesthesia:- giving us a continuous wave of the heart’s electrical activity allowing any issues to be identified and dealt with before becoming a problem.
