In-house development of a dedicated data acquisition and monitoring system for intracranial pressure, patient posture and patient symptoms in a regional neurosciences centre

Abstract

Management of traumatic brain injury and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow disorders can be aided by measurement and monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP). In addition to pressure measurement, knowledge of patient symptoms and posture during monitoring are also valuable, particularly in the management of CSF flow disorders. ICP monitoring systems have been developed in this centre to meet clinical needs in the absence of commercially available solutions. An early system (mark I) was developed and the technical challenges in its design are described, along with limitations to this system that motivated the development of a new mark II system. The mark II system is then described.

PowerLab system enhances Physiology experimentation and learning in pre-clinical medical students

“…In addition, majority of the respondents (≥40) attested that the use of PowerLab system helped in enhancing their understanding of various physiology experiments that was conducted and played a pivotal role in assisting them to learn physiological concepts better, a positive perception level of 78% and 85% respectively. These results agreed with previous studies which supported the effectualness of computerized data recording system in self-and directed-learning, drive and better performance and skills development in undergraduates' courses of several scientific disciplines 8,9,13 .…”

“…The PowerLab system developed by AD Instruments; Sydney, Australia, is a studentcentred, data acquisition and analysis system. This system is useful for simulating physiological experiments thereby making teaching easier by combining many processes into one program which includes; real-time data acquisition, data analysis, report completion and submission amongst others [7][8][9] .…”