Bar Graphs On The Home Screen; Arterial Pressure - Fresenius Medical Care 2008T Operator's Manual

Chapter 4—Monitoring the Treatment
Button

Bar graphs on the Home Screen

The three bar graphs on the "Home" screen represent the various pressures associated with
dialysis treatment. The first two bar graphs represent the pressures inside the arterial and
venous drip chambers. The third bar graph—Transmembrane Pressure (TMP)—represents
the opposing blood and dialysate pressures being exerted from opposite sides on the dialyzer
membrane.
Warning! The pressure changes resulting from a line separation or needle removal may be
too small for the system to detect. All connections must be properly secured and checked
regularly. Access sites and connections should remain uncovered for monitoring.

Arterial Pressure

The arterial pressure is the measure of the pressure inside the arterial drip chamber. The
arterial pressure is read by a transducer inside the blood pump module. The drip chamber and
transducer are connected by way of a pressure line that runs from the arterial drip chamber to
the blood pump's arterial pressure port (P
pressure port to guard against contamination of the transducer in case of a fluid surge within
the chamber.
Alarms are not immediate and a variable time delay mechanism, dependent on the magnitude
the pressure deviates outside the alarm window, allows for momentary minor changes in
pressure. Adjusting the blood pump rate will cause the alarm limits to spread, allowing the
pressure to stabilize before new limits are re-established.
102
Data
This button displays the speed of the blood pump and allows the
operator to set it from the display screen in addition to the module. The
rate, displayed in ml/min, can be entered from 0 to 600 in increments of
5. Setting the blood flow rate to zero will stop the blood pump. The
blood flow rate flashes when the blood pump is stopped.
Arterial pressure is digitally displayed on the left side of the "Home" screen
above a corresponding vertical bar graph. In the bar graph, under normal
conditions, arterial pressure is represented by a green horizontal bar between
two yellow bars that represent the upper and lower alarm limits. The area
between the limits is the alarm window. The alarm limits are automatically set.
When the arterial drip chamber is positioned before the blood pump in the
extracorporeal blood circuit, the arterial pressure reading should be a negative
value.
Unusually high or low pressures may be the result of kinks in the blood tubing,
clotting, or a needle pressing against the vessel wall. Problems such as these
may cause pressure readings to rise or fall outside the alarm window. When
this happens, the arterial pressure bar changes from green to red, an alarm
sounds, the blood pump stops, and venous line clamp closes. A warning
message appears in the Status box.
2008T Machine Operator's Manual P/N 490122 Rev N
). A transducer protector is fastened over the
Art.