Available for download on the Downloads page.
Multiple major improvements in this release, starting off with both visual and audio alarms in the Cardiac Monitor simulator. Many healthcare personnel are already overly familiar with alarms, so this probably does not need explaining… but I will:
Alarms (Visual and Audio!)
- Alarm limits able to be enabled, high/low values set, and alarm priority (low, moderate, high) are all adjustable in the Scenario Editor, as well as a default set of alarms (appropriate for adult patients) being enabled by default. Future plans exist for adjusting alarm limits in the simulator, as well as including default limits for other age groups, but this is not currently implemented.
- Alarms are present for all hemodynamic parameters (vital signs and advanced hemodynamics)
When alarms are active and set, if a physiologic parameter falls outside of an enabled alarm limit:
- The number visually flashes in the cardiac monitor. The numbers flash at different speeds based on priority- low priority is slow flashing, high priority is fast flashing.
- An audio alarm is sounded, and the audio alarm is selected based on alarm priority. Low priority alarms have a slow low-frequency beep and longer intermediary pause, high priority alarms have more rapid high-frequency beeping with slower pause.
Note: Audio is played cross-platform using libraries provided by the LibVLC project, a subset of the VLC Media Player. These libraries are bundled into the Windows and MacOS versions of Infirmary Integrated, but require installation of VLC and its libraries on Linux platforms. If the LibVLC libraries are missing, Infirmary Integrated will simply run without audio.
Options/Settings
- Alarms (includes both visual and audio) can be enabled and disabled in the Cardiac Monitor simulator via a newly-created menu option.
- Audio can be enabled or disabled in the main Infirmary Integrated simulator window via a newly-created menu option. This option will be used to silence all audio from all simulated devices, as audio is integrated into other devices in future versions.
- All changes localized into supported languages
Scenario Editor
This release brings back the Infirmary Integrated Scenario Editor as a cross-platform standalone tool used for creating simulation files that can be saved, shared, and then loaded into Infirmary Integrated and run in a stepwise manner. Simulation files created with the Scenario Editor can have multiple “steps” each with their own simulated patient’s parameters and vital signs. Steps can “progress” in different ways, depending on which progression is selected in the scenario player (which is part of Infirmary Integrated’s simulator). An example case for using simulation files created with the Scenario Editor would be for an educator to simulate a patient in a stable state, progressing to a deteriorating state, then depending on a student’s actions or response, could progress to an improved state or a declined state of hemodynamic parameters- all simulated with Infirmary Integrated.
While the Scenario Editor existed before in older releases of Infirmary Integrated, the following new features are part of this major release:
- Cross-platform functionality (runs on Windows, Linux, and MacOS) for both the Simulator and the Scenario Editor.
- Installer packages for Windows, Linux, and MacOS now include the Scenario Editor
- Improved major re-design of the Scenario Editor for ease of use and improved workflow
- Miscellaneous minor quality-of-life improvements and small features added
Additionally, some of the new features in the Scenario Editor blend into the Simulator when loading simulation files, including:
- The ability to choose which devices automatically open when loading a simulation file (e.g. cardiac monitor, 12 lead ECG, etc.)
Stability and Testing
There were also tons of behind-the-scenes improvements made to the entire program suite, including a large effort of modernizing the code that powers Infirmary Integrated. Many advancements in the C# programming language and the frameworks that Infirmary Integrated are built on are now utilized thoroughly. The language and frameworks have had significant changes over the last 5 years, improving overall performance and stability of Infirmary Integrated!
Lastly, immense amounts of testing went into this release, ensuring that all features work as intended! Although all computer programs have “bugs” in them, large amounts of testing went into this release to ensure that all major bugs are fixed and that Infirmary Integration is “production-ready”. This is the main reason why the project went from version 2.0 to 2.2: by the time version 2.1’s updates were tested as being stable, half of the updates for version 2.2 were already being added!
Bugfixes
Some major bugfixes and issues resolved in this release are:
- #139: Fixed atrial flutter drawing problems (out of phase synchronicity between A/V; A:V ratio)
- Fixed pacemaker spikes from blocking atrial flutter and fibrillation on isoelectric line drawing
- #143: Fixed “Reset Parameters” from unlinking patient model from device simulators (also disabled this button if auto-apply changes are enabled)
- #140, #137