Types and Classes of Computers

Classes of Computer

·         Analog Computer – operates on continuous physical or electrical magnitudes, measuring ongoing continuous analog quantities such as voltage, current, temperature, and pressure. Selected physiologic monitoring equipment, which accepts continuous input/output signals, is in the analog class of computers. An example of these machines in the clinical setting includes heart monitors and fetal monitors. An analog computer handles data in continuously variable quantities rather than breaking the data down into discrete digital representations.

·        Digital Computer – The digital computer, on the other hand, operates in discrete discontinuous numerical digits using the binary numbering system. It represents data using discrete values for all data. Its data are represented by numbers, letters and symbols rather than by waveforms such as on a heart monitor. Most of the computers used in the health care industry for charting and decision support are digital computers.

·         Hybrid Computer – The hybrid computer, as its name implies, contains features of both the analog and the digital computer. It is used for specific applications, such as complex signal processing and other engineering – oriented applications. It is also found in some monitoring equipment that converts analog signals to digital ones for data processing. For example, physiologic monitors that are able to capture the heart waveform and also to measure the core body temperature at specific times of the shift are actually hybrid computers. Some physiologic research providers can make use of hybrid computers that have analog ability to capture waveforms of physiologic monitors and convert them into digital format suitable for analysis.

Types of Computers

Ø      Supercomputers
     - largest type of computer
     - “number cruncher”

Ø      Mainframes
     - Can serve a large number of users at a time.
     - As compared with a desktop PC, a mainframe has an extremely large memory capacity and fast operating and processing time
       and it can process a large number of functions (multiprocessing) at one time.

Ø      Microcomputers    
     - Hospital nursing departments are using PCs to process specific applications such as patient classification, nurse
       staffing and management applications.

Ø      Handheld Computers     
      - used by nurses when charting
      - used to take notes by bedside