Assessment of the Dynamics of Cardiac Responses to Positive Inotropic Agents

The decision by the physician to employ pharmacologic intervention is based upon patient management programs which are composed of structured rules designed to aid in systematic decision making (1). The infusion of positive inotropic agents in the treatment of patients following open intracardiac operations is administered manually by the bedside nurse. The principal objective of this research was to determine to what extent the techniques of computer-based control of interventions could be applied in the management of epinephrine and dopamine in the clinical environment.