Alarm testing and backup for implanted medical devices with vibration alerts

A cardiac monitoring system for a human patient including:

• an implanted medical device including:
• a primary patient alerting means having a vibrator which includes a drive circuit and motor;
• an accelerometer, the accelerometer configured to sense movement of the implanted medical device in at least one direction;
• at least one sensor for sensing signals from the heart;
• a wireless communications system;
• a processor, the processor configured to detect abnormalities in the signals from the heart, for actuating the vibrator following detection of abnormalities in the signals from the heart, and to perform an alarm test;
• the alarm test including both actuation of the vibrator drive motor for at least one defined test interval and measurement by the processor of alarm-test data sensed by the accelerometer during the test interval, the alarm test further including operating the processor to detect sufficient or insufficient movement of the vibrator during the test interval;
• and
• an external equipment having wireless communication designed to receive signals from the implanted medical device;
• wherein when (a) sufficient movement is detected the patient is alerted by the primary patient alerting means and (b) when insufficient movement is detected an insufficient movement signal is generated for actuating a secondary patient alerting means.