HP-65 Gets With the Medical Program

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HP calculators could be programmed to perform medical functions. These cards for the HP-65 programmable scientific calculator contained programs for cardiopulmonary applications. Other HP-65 programs applicable to medical calculations included ventilator set-up and calibration, as well as analysis of acid-base balance, blood gases and respiratory status. The popularity of programmable calculators among medical users was so great that in the early 1970s, Hewlett-Packard’s Calculator Division formed three groups to serve the fields of Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Nuclear Medicine/Radiology and Cardiopulmonary Studies.