Hemodynamic assessment: the physiologic basis for turning data into clinical information.

Hemodynamic monitoring has become an integral component of the assessment of the critically ill. Any technology used for monitoring is a diagnostic tool and only as good as the provider interpreting the data. The article focuses on providing the practitioner the physiologic basis of the hemodynamic profile to cross the chasm of turning data into clinically useful information. Decision-making models are described to facilitate data synthesis and clinical intervention.