Originally Posted by
Cammer
I agree with much of what you say, but a monitor cannot lie any more than this computer I'm using can think. The information on a monitor is wholly dependent upon the input it receives from the patient. Monitors have not been given artificial intelligence yet, therefore they cannot lie, but they can give you an inaccurate graphical/numerical representation of the patient's condition.
The saying "Treat the patient, not the monitor" is advising a practitioner to not completely rely on the results of an electronic device which only shows an interpretation of exactly what information is put in it and is easily capable of being misread. If there is bad information going in, then it will give an unusable output. Therefore, it is most prudent to assess the patient prior to implementing any interventions based on a single source of possibly unreliable data. Never generalize from a single datum in any field of study, not just medicine or nursing.