monitor
Meaning of monitor: Monitor refers both to the ongoing observation of a person's condition over time and to a device that records or displays patient data.
Definition of monitor
Monitor has two related meanings in clinical use. As a verb, to monitor means to regularly observe and check a person, a specific body function, or a medical condition over time in order to detect any change. As a noun, a monitor is a device that continuously records or displays information about a patient, such as heart rhythm, blood pressure, or oxygen levels.
Monitoring a patient can involve repeated physical examination, laboratory testing, or imaging performed at intervals, while a bedside monitor typically displays several measurements simultaneously and can be set to alert staff if a value moves outside an expected range.
Both uses of the word describe the same underlying purpose, tracking change over time rather than assessing a person only once, whether that tracking is performed by a clinician directly or with the help of a device designed for continuous measurement.
Used in a sentence
The patient was placed on a cardiac monitor to track heart rhythm throughout the procedure.
Good to know
The word monitor can refer either to the act of observation or to the physical device performing it, and the intended meaning is usually clear only from the surrounding context.