EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Central and slave monitors

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this wierd issue with GE central and its slave monitor. A clinician reported that the bedside monitor displayed waveform that was different to the waveform printed at the central during an event.

Anyone has experienced such an issue ? and how did you diagnose it ? I would appreciate any guidance in this regards.

Thanks

How to diagnose? Get your ECG simulator out and try it on a number of monitors. In other words, did this weirdness only occur from (or at) a specific monitor?

Remedy? Off the top of my head I'm guessing:- IP addresses (aka configuration error(s)). Maybe someone has been fiddling about (not unknown as we all know).

When you say "different" ... in what way? An alternative presentation (printout?) of ECG? Or was it the other way around ... the central data was good, but the display at the monitor showed something else? In the Cabrera format, for instance?

Was the clinician at the the "monitor of interest" (at the station where the patient event occurred), or at some other monitor in the system (where the event was directed or called-up for display)?

Either way, was the critical "event" data retained?

Good Luck!

Thanks Geoff

I will try simulation at the bedside monitor and see if I can reproduce the fault.

Ahem...i think you mean client and host monitor (as i was reminded recently by one of the major players in the oem world) ???

Aha! PC terminology (see what I did there)?

Or even central and satellite monitors. In some systems (old ones at least) the central display was effectively "dumb" - the bedside monitors being the "drivers".

In Ye Olde Days there was no PC at the central station (probably due to the fact that PCs hadn't been invented yet); the central station was really just a monitor (sometimes quite a large one, sometimes a couple or more), a bit of switching and a printer. In fact, in some set-ups the central station was the cheapest part of the system. Happy Days

But yes, I should imagine that modern set-ups are in fact a server and clients (in the computer network senses); a server at the central station (although it could be elsewhere) with client monitors dotted around. Some monitors may be portable, or even hand-held (wireless). That is what made me mention IP addresses previously. Not to mention:- telemetry. All good Biomed Stuff.

PS: I believe that the "master" (cylinder) and "slave" (cylinders) terminology is still used in vehicle braking systems.

IP addresses are repeated, which is unlikely to happen in actual work.
Because the central workstation is constantly checking the IP address, MAC address code, and computer name in real time........
Unless there are two clients with the same IP address, MAC address, and name.The probability of this is almost 0.
It is recommended to check from the signal source.

Unless a poor quality central workstation system is installed, this will not occur.
For example, the most common Philips central station system is a rigorous management system.

... unless someone has been fiddling about. Not unknown.

But yes; I suspect the problem outlined is probably due to something far simpler.

How different, totally in the sense it appears to be a different patient or what??

Could it be the centrale station is printing a delayed ECG data as is the case with many defibrillators.

Let us know

My bad... forgot to ask, what are the models of GE monitors and Central station.

I have an Italian colleague who has worked for many years with GE, Datex et al, if you give me/us more details I'll pass on the query