Mead Johnson Critical Care Symposium for the Practising Surgeon. 2. Complications of monitoring systems.

Current invasive monitoring techniques, although valuable in the care of critically ill patients, also have disadvantages. Complications of these techniques include errors in interpretation of measurements and complications of venous access and indwelling lines. To prevent these, the author recommends a standard routine for inserting and changing catheters, regular calibration of transducers and insertion of Swan-Ganz catheters with the balloon inflated with 1.0 to 1.5 ml of air.