This week’s blog post concerns a new computer system which is able to administer drugs to patients following a heart bypass operation.

The initiative comes from consultants at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who worked together to develop the artificial intelligence system which is able to analyse a patient’s vital signs and recommend the drug types and infusion rates to the experts caring for a patient. A spokesman for the NHS Trust said that it was able to achieve good control and the computer was able to monitor patients “considerably more rapidly than experts currently manage”.

The consultants who devised the system won first prize at this year’s Medipex NHS Innovations Awards ceremony; which showcases new technology developed by the NHS. Dr Jonathan Ross, one of those who designed the system said: “This is the first study in the world to demonstrate in a clinical trial the ability for a computer, knowing nothing about the specific patient except what data is shown on the routine monitoring, to suggest to an expert the drugs and infusion rates required for precise control of the cardiovascular system”.

He added that the advance in technology would lead to more individual care, tailored to an individual patient’s needs and could free up healthcare staff to deal with other aspects of care.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/39Smart39-computer-for-heart-patients.6300502.jp