Other: IT
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TMS
Computer Architecture Cont.
Further to the left we fall into the technical factors i.e., circuit and electronics. However, in the article ―Don’t forget the maintainer‖, in the 2011
Human Factors edition of the Horizon series, the author cautions designers to consider the other human side of the device which applies to the
technician. What we can extract from this diagram and apply to medical
equipment is that, as medical devices have become computerized,
meaning they include either digital logic circuit programming or microprocessor, they begin to resemble computer architecture. Let’s continue
with a simplified functional block diagram of a medical device. You may
have seen something like figure 3. Taking a closer look at those functions
we can visualize the basis for most medical devices. This simple diagram
doesn’t include an applied energy (RF, Magnetic, x-ray, ultrasound)
block, an auto calibration function, or special feature functions, which
may not contribute to the main function of the device.
For that we would need to add to this diagram, and would take considerable more time and space to fully describe. The Measurand in the diagram is the technical term, used in electronics, for that signal we are trying to measure. It means the same thing in BMET, except in our case the
signal we are trying to measure is a physiological signal. An easily recognizable example for BMET’s, would be electrical activity on the surface of
the skin due to the heart’s electrical field propagation through the internal
thoracic cavity and organs. The sensor in the diagram is the transducer
that converts the measurand into an electrical signal. Some sensors are
made up of a primary sensing element and a transducer, while other sensors are one