| abstract |
A patient-worn monitoring system and method for geographically dispersed health care locations. A patient-worn monitoring system comprises a network, a body-worn monitoring station, a monitoring station server, a remote command center, and a rules engine. The network comprises a first sub-network and a second sub-network. The body-worn monitoring station comprises monitoring equipment. The body worn monitoring station monitors data elements from a patient assigned to a health care location and sends monitored data elements to a monitoring station server via the first sub-network. The monitoring station server receives the monitored data elements from the body worn monitoring station and relays the monitored data elements to the remote command center via the second sub-network. The remote command center receives the monitored data elements from the monitoring station server, associates the monitored data elements with the patient assigned to the health care location, accesses patient data elements indicative of a medical condition associated with the patient, and establishes a patient-specific rule associated with the patient. The rules engine selects data elements from the monitored data elements and the patient data elements associated with the patient and applies the patient-specific rule to the selected data elements continuously and simultaneously. A determination is made whether the patient-specific rule for the patient has been contravened. An alert is issued from the remote command center in the event the patient-specific rule for the patient has been contravened. |