System for determining electrical status of patient attached leads

A system for determining electrical status of patient attached leads in medical patient monitoring, comprising:

• a repository of data indicating a plurality of predetermined impedance value ranges and corresponding associated lead status information of at least one electrical lead attached to a patient for conducting electrical signals for use in patient monitoring;
• an impedance measurement processor for automatically successively determining whether an impedance value of a particular patient attached lead of a plurality of electrical leads attached to a patient is within a particular impedance value range of a plurality of predetermined impedance value ranges by successively altering a known impedance value in an impedance bridge network;
• and
• an output processor for automatically communicating data comprising a message identifying an electrical status of a particular lead of said plurality of electrical leads by deriving status information from said repository in response to a determination said impedance value of said particular patient attached lead is within said particular impedance value range.

A method for determining electrical status of patient attached leads in medical patient monitoring, comprising the activities of:

• storing data indicating a plurality of predetermined impedance value ranges and corresponding associated lead status information of at least one electrical lead attached to a patient for conducting electrical signals for use in patient monitoring;
• automatically successively determining whether an impedance value of a particular patient attached lead of a plurality of electrical leads attached to a patient is within a particular impedance value range of a plurality of predetermined impedance value ranges;
• and
• automatically communicating data comprising a message identifying an electrical status of a particular lead of said plurality of electrical leads by deriving status information from said repository in response to a determination said impedance value of said particular patient attached lead is within said particular impedance value range.