Patient monitoring system

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to continuously communicate with a medical telemetry network having at least one central monitoring station, comprising:

• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports;
• a wireless transceiver controllable by the controller to continuously communicate with the at least one central monitoring station;
• where the controller is configured, when not in communication with the at least one central monitoring station, to repeatedly attempt to establish communications with the at least one central monitoring station via the wireless transceiver;
• and
• a display device controllable by the controller to automatically display a notification to a user of the monitor upon establishing communications with the at least one central monitoring station.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to operate in a network state so as to communicate directly with a network having at least one central monitoring station comprising:

• a wireless transceiver;
• a controller coupled to the wireless transceiver and configured to establish direct communications with the central monitoring station over the network via the wireless transceiver;
• and
• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• where the controller is coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports and communicate the vital signs data directly to the central monitoring station via the wireless transceiver;
• where the controller includes a data storage buffer for storage of the vital signs data, and where the controller is configured to automatically detect a loss of communications with the network, and to store, in the data storage buffer, at least a portion of the vital signs data received while out of communications with the network;
• and
• where the controller is configured to continually communicate the stored vital signs data to the network and directly to the central monitoring station via the wireless transceiver if communications with the central station are restored.

A method for monitoring a patient, said method comprising the steps of:

• establishing a direct wireless communications between a patient monitor and at least one central monitoring station;
• collecting vital signs data from a patient at the patient monitor;
• continuously communicating the vital signs data from the patient monitor to the at least one central monitoring station;
• detecting a loss of communications between the patient monitor and the at least one central monitoring station;
• storing at least a portion of the vital signs data at the patient monitor while the patient monitor is out of communications with the at least one central monitoring station;
• restoring wireless communications between the patient monitor and the at least one central monitoring station;
• and
• directly communicating at least a portion of the stored vital signs data from the patient monitor to the at least one central monitoring station.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to directly communicate with a medical telemetry network having at least one central monitoring station, the monitor comprising:

• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• a wireless transceiver;
• and
• a controller coupled to continuously receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports, and configured to control the wireless transceiver to establish and maintain direct communications with the at least one central monitoring station;
• where the controller is configured to detect a loss of communications with the at least one central station, and if a loss of communications is detected, to automatically switch from a first operating mode in which the controller transmits the received vital signs data to the at least one central monitoring station, to a second operating mode in which the controller does not transmit the received vital signs data to the at least one central monitoring station.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to communicate with at least one central monitoring station connected to receive vital signs data via a communications network, where the communications network includes one or more hard-wired ports and one or more network transceivers, the monitor comprising:

• one ore more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• an output port that is selectively connected to a hard-wired port on the network that is hard-wired to said at least one central monitoring station;
• a wireless transceiver adapted to transmit information to, and receive information from, at least one of the one or more network transceivers:
• and
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports, and simultaneously connected to communicate the vital signs data to the at least one central monitoring station via a selected one of the hardwired output port and the wireless transceiver.

A method for monitoring a patient, comprising:

• providing a medical telemetry network having at least one central monitoring station connected to one or more wireless transceivers and to one or more hard-wired ports:
• collecting vital signs data from a patient at a patient monitor;
• automatically detecting whether the patient monitor is connected to one of the one or more hard-wired ports;
• communicating the vital signs data to the central monitoring station via the wireless transceiver if the patient monitor is not connected to one of the one or more hard-wired ports and communicating the vital signs data over the hardwired connection with the central station if the patient monitor is connected to said one or more hard-wired ports.

A wireless medical telemetry system, comprising:

• a plurality of central monitoring stations adapted to receive vital signs data associated with a plurality of patients;
• and
• at least one wireless patient monitor operable in a stand-alone mode and a system mode, said at least one patient monitor including a controller and a wireless transceiver, where the at least one patient monitor also includes control software executable by the controller to monitor a particular one of the plurality of patients by collecting vital signs data from the particular patient, and
• transmit the collected vital signs data to a selected central monitoring station via the wireless transceiver when in said system mode;
• where the controller is adapted to receive new control software via the wireless transceiver, and to update the control software with new control software.

A wireless patient monitor adapted to communicate with any one of plural medical telemetry networks, each having one or more central stations, where each network is configured to communicate via wireless communications using one of multiple different communications settings, the monitor being operable in two states and comprising:

• one or more sensor inputs for receiving vital signs data from a patient;
• a wireless transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless communications;
• and
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more sensor inputs and to communicate with a network via the transceiver;
• where the controller is configured, upon initial power-up, to automatically transmit a signal to a local one of the plural networks via the transceiver to request the communications settings used by the local network, and to establish communications with at least one of the central stations on the local network using the communications with at least one of the central stations on the local network using the communications settings received from the local network without intervention from a user of the patient monitor, wherein said monitor communicates with anyone of said plural networks in a first state and in which said monitor alternately operates as a stand-alone device in a second state.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to communicate with a medical telemetry network having at least one central station, the monitor being operable in two states and comprising:

• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data:
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports;
• a wireless transceiver controllable by the controller to communicate with the at least one central station;
• where the controller is configured, when not in communication with the at least one central station, to repeatedly attempt to establish communications with the at least one central station via the wireless transceiver;
• and
• a display device controllable by the controller to automatically display a notification to a user of the monitor upon establishing communications with the at least one central station, wherein said monitor wirelessly communicates with said medical telemetry network in a first state and in which said monitor alternately operates as a stand-alone device in a second state.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to operate in a network state so as to communicate with a network having at least one central station, comprising:

• a wireless transceiver;
• a controller coupled to the wireless transceiver and configured to establish communications with the central station via the wireless transceiver;
• and
• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• where the controller is coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports and communicate the vital signs data to the central station via the wireless transceiver;
• where the controller includes a data storage buffer for storage of the vital signs data, and where the controller is configured to automatically detect a loss of communications with the central station, and to store, in the data storage buffer, at least a portion of the vital signs data received while out of communications with the central station;
• and
• where the controller is configured to communicate the stored vital signs data to the central station via the wireless transceiver if communications with the central station are restored.

A method for monitoring a patient, said method comprising the steps of:

• establishing wireless communications between a patient monitor and a central station;
• collecting vital signs data from a patient at the patient monitor;
• communicating the vital signs data from the patient monitor to the central station;
• detecting a loss of communications between the patient monitor and the central station;
• storing at least a portion of the vital signs data at the patient monitor while the patient monitor is out of communications with the central station;
• restoring wireless communications between the patient monitor and the central station;
• and
• communicating at least a portion of the stored vital signs data from the patient monitor to the central station, and wherein said patient monitor can be operated in a stand-alone mode without wireless communications wherein said patient monitor is continuously operating to collect vital signs data.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor adapted to communicate between a stand-alone mode and a network mode with a medical telemetry network having at least one central station, the monitor comprising:

• one or more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• a wireless transceiver;
• and
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports, and configured to control the wireless transceiver to establish and maintain communications with the at least one central station in said network mode;
• where the controller is configured to detect a loss of communications with the at least one central station in said network mode, and if a loss of communications is detected, to automatically switch from a first operating mode in which the controller transmits the received vital signs data to the at least one central station, to a second operating mode in which the controller does not transmit the received vital signs data to the at least one central station.

A wireless, patient vital signs monitor which operates in two modes, a stand-alone mode and a network mode in which said monitor is adapted to communicate with at least one central station connected to receive vital signs data via a communications network, where the communications network includes one or more hard-wired ports and one or more network transceivers, the monitor comprising:

• one ore more sensor input ports for receiving patient vital signs data;
• an output port connectable to a hard-wired port on the network;
• a wireless transceiver adapted to transmit information to, and receive information from, at least one of the one or more network transceivers in said network mode;
• and
• a controller coupled to receive the vital signs data via the one or more input ports, and configured to communicate the vital signs data to the at least one central station via a selected one of the output port or the wireless transceiver.

A method for continuously monitoring a patient, comprising:

• providing a medical telemetry network having at least one central station connected to one or more wireless transceivers and to one or more hard-wired ports:
• collecting vital signs data from a patient at a patient monitor;
• automatically detecting whether the patient monitor is connected to one of the one or more hard-wired ports;
• communicating the vital signs data to the central station via the wireless transceiver if the patient monitor is not connected to one of the one or more hard-wired ports and in which said monitor continuously collects vital sign data, said patient monitor being further operable in a strand-alone mode.

A wireless medical telemetry system, comprising:

• a central station adapted to receive vital signs data associated with a plurality of patients;
• and
• at least one wireless patient monitor including a controller and a wireless transceiver, where the patient monitor also includes control software executable by the controller to monitor a particular one of the plurality of patients by collecting vital signs data from the particular patient, and
• transmit the collected vital signs data to the central station via the wireless transceiver;
• where the controller is adapted to receive new control software via the wireless transceiver, and to update the control software with new control software and in which said at least one patient monitor is continuously operable in a network mode for transmitting the collected vital signs data to the central station and a stand-alone mode.