Measuring Cardiac Output: The Refinement of a Mathematical Model

The process of building a mathematical model is normally an iterative one: the model is refined successively by making assumptions that correspond more and more closely to the details of the real situation. This cycling is frequently neglected in the classroom, however, in part because there are relatively few suitable examples. In this article, we provide an example by extending the model described in Horelick and Koont's UMAP module, Measurinq Cardiac Output, in a way that permits one to include more complex and potentially more realistic physiological data.