Can Clinical Monitors Be Used as Scientific Instruments?
Jeffrey M. Feldman, MD, MSE From the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Jeffrey M. Feldman, MD, MSE, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th and Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19129. Address e-mail to feldmanj{at}email.chop.edu’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–>. For many decades, the Grass polygraph was the workhorse of physiologic investigation. The instrument gave the investigator precise control over the manner in which transduced signals were filtered and amplified. In exchange for ink-stained fingers, the investigator could document the calibration, gain, and filtering used during signal processing. This assured that experimental results obtained would be repeatable. The Grass polygraph is another casualty of the digital age. Data collection no longer requires cumbersome laboratory equipment. Even the cl
