Computerized management of cardiac arrhythmias.

A computerized system has been developed for the management of arrhythmias for patients in the coronary care unit (CCU). The project involved formalizing the arrhythmia management logic of physicians into a succession of modular steps. Using this medical logic a computerized arrhythmia management system (CAM) has been developed. The system provides the updating of both the patient’s database in real time, and the medical logic. The ease with which the medical logic can be updated prevents errors in the treatment recommended by CAM and gives CAM an important educational role. When CAM is activated a menu is displayed don the terminal allowing an update of the patient’s database and providing the physician with an option to enter treatment preferences for certain arrhythmias. When CAM recommends a treatment plan it also gives the reasoning behind the choice, thus making CAM more acceptable by allowing the physician to understand the loci and the key dta used for a specific patient treatment plan. CAM as presented in this thesis has been tested on 27 patients in the CCU. On all patients CAM gave recommendation identical to those that were found to be effective in the CCU. Management plans for arrhythmias not represented by actual patients gave satisfactory results when tested with simulated databases. CAM is an intrinsic part of the medical computerized HELP system operated in the LDS hospital and widens the effectiveness of this system in the CCU.