A) TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention generally relates to a patient monitoring system and particularly relates to a central nursing station (CNS) provided to monitor the patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). The present invention more particularly relates to a device for acknowledging the alarm reports received from the individual patient monitors at a central location without having the need to go near the patient monitors installed at each patient side.
B) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Generally the various physiological parameters of an individual are measured using the monitors known as, "vital sign parameter bed side monitor" or " vital sign monitoring systems", to measure the heart rate level, the blood pressure, the artery pressure etc. One of the important vital signs measured by the healthcare providers is electrocardiography (ECG), impedance cardio vasography, and non-invasive cardiac output. The monitored parameters are displayed at a central nursing station to enable medical personnel like the doctors, nursing assistants and medical attendants to monitor patients under critical conditions or under intensive care to take immediate remedial action during emergency conditions.
[0003] The central nursing station (CNS) has different screens to provide an efficient and convenient way to display the real-time patient related data as well as trend data of different patients. The central nursing station (CNS) has different display formats

to provide an efficient and convenient way to display the real-time patient related data corresponding to different patients.
[0004] The Alarm levels are indications to the medical personnel to alert them on the critical nature of a sick patient under care in the intensive care unit (ICU). The Alarms are set according to the general health condition of the patient and it is necessary that the alarm levels are patient specific. Generally no two cases are identical and hence we can generalize the alarm levels or symptoms for a measured or monitored physiological parameter only to a certain extent. The general condition of a specified patient is assessed based on the initial tests conducted on the specified patient. The alarm limits for the specified patient are set based on the results of the initial tests conducted on the patient.
[0005] Whenever the monitored physiological parameter exceeds the preset level, an audio alarm and a visual alarm are output to draw the attention of the medical personnel monitoring the patient activity. The generated alarm is registered in an alarm recall system provided in the monitor detecting the patient condition/parameter. The alarm recall system may store only a preset number of alarm conditions. When a new alarm is generated after the saturation of the register in the alarm recall system, the oldest alarm condition stored on the register is easily replaced by the new alarm condition. The alarm recall system is modelled on the lines of First in First out (FIFO) logic circuit so that the oldest alarm may be replaced by the new alarm.
[0006] When an alarm condition such as yellow alarm or white alarm occurs or is generated, the generated alarm is relayed to the CNS in the form of an audio and

visual display. The audio alarms corresponding to Red and Yellow alarms are provided with different alarm tones so that the different alarm tones will be output based on the type of the generated alarm condition. The visual alarm display exhibhs a flashing colour such as yellow or red in the allotted bed area based on the monitored and measured parameter with the preset alarm levels. Since the CNS is an integrated display system to indicate all the measured physiological parameters received from the patient monitoring systems installed at the bedside of each patient, the CNS may not afford to silence the output audio and video alarms until the alarm is acknowledged at the individual monitor. When the alarms at the multiple patient side monitors are not acknowledged, a commotion and confusion is generated thereby worsening the monitoring situation at the CNS. The primary fimction of the CNS is to monitor the patient condition effectively and to prompt the medical personnel to take appropriate and suitable corrective medical action during the alarm output condition or critical condition.
[0007] Sometimes an alarm, which is not critical in nature, may occur. The alarm may persist until the measured parameter that exceeded the alarm level, falls back within the preset alarm limit. The persistence of an unwanted alarm at the CNS may disrupt the ambience of the ICU. It is well known that the intensive care unit (ICU) is a place where there is a lot of stress and many procedures will be carried out on more than one critically ill patient simultaneously. This kind of high-level work requires a peaceful ambience to ensure a high level of accuracy in the work being performed. Most of the patients in an ICU are in a critical condition, and hence the number of alarms generated based on the measured physiological parameters of the individual patients will also be more thereby generating a lot of disturbance not only in the form

of noise but also, by the movement of the nurses who move around the ICU to acknowledge and silence the generated alarms. Some of the alarms are related only to the supporting parameters that are being monitored and do not require any action to be taken. So the need for the nurses to actually go up to the bedside of the patients to acknowledge such alarms is not required.
[0008] Hence there is a need to improve the monitoring system and to provide a unit with an alarm acknowledgement function at a central location such as CNS, thereby preventing the unwanted movement of the nurses around the patients in ICU and the unwanted commotion and confusion in ICU. Also there is a need to silence the alarm of the individual monitors at a central location such as CNS, to improve the working condition at the CNS and at the ICU.
C) OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The primary object of the present invention is to develop an alarm receiving and acknowledgement unit for central nursing station to acknowledge the alarms from the multiple patient monitors at a central location thereby improving the working of the ICU efficiently.
[0010] Another object of the present invention is to develop an alarm receiving system to enable a user who is responsible for monitoring all the patients in the ICU to appropriately acknowledge and attend to the critical condition of one patient while simultaneously monitoring all other patients on the CNS,

[0011] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
D) SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0012] The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
[0013] The various embodiments of the present invention provide an alarm receiving and acknowledgement system and a method for a central nursing station to enable a monitoring personnel to receive the audio and the video alarms from the plurality of the monitors and to acknowledge the alarms from a single central point thereby avoiding the unwanted movement of the nursing personnel in silencing the alarm to improve the working condition.
[0014] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a logic circuit device is provided to enable the monitoring person posted at the central nursing station to receive all the audio and the video alarms generated at the plurality of the personal monitoring systems installed at the bed side of each patient in an ICU and to acknowledge the alarms from a central location easily.
[0015] The logic circuit device provides the user with the option of acknowledging an alarm at the CNS, through a single click on the window (allotted for a particular

patient) in which the alarming condition is displayed. The device allows us to prevent the generation of commotion that might result, when the alarm from the multiple patient monitoring units are not acknowledged.
[0016] The present invention provides a user interface application. So even a semi skilled or unskilled person monitoring the patients at the CNS may operate the logic device easily to acknowledge and silence the alarms received from the multiple patient monitoring units installed at the bedside of each patient.
[0017] The logic device of the present invention enables a user to acknowledge an alarm while sitting in front of the CNS and eliminates the need to go near the patient monitoring unit each time to acknowledge the alarm. Thus the alarm receiving system of the present invention improves the efficiency of the CNS effectively, by monitoring the condition of each patient constantly and taking appropriate and suitable action during the emergency condition of the patient efficiently.
[0018] Even though the Alarm is acknowledged with a single click, to merely stop the audio alarm and the flashing display, the alarm condition will be displayed continuously by retaining the respective alarm colour in the background of the Bed with the alarm condition. Thus the alarm is indicated and displayed at the CNS until the monitored parameter is within the preset alarm range.
[0019] Thus the monitoring medical personnel at the ICU or CNS can silence all alarms that do not require action to be taken on them. Thus the unnecessary

movement of the medical staff around the monitors and patients in ICU is avoided thereby improving the operating efficiency of the ICU.
[0020] According to one embodiment of the present invention the central nursing station is provided with a system to receive and acknowledge the alarms that are generated at each patient monitoring unit, when the measured parameter at each monitor exceeds the preset alarm limit for the parameter. Then the alarm condition is classified as red, yellow and white based on the criticality of the measured parameters. The bed number of the patient whose measured parameter exceeds the preset alarm limit is displayed with the classified alarm color in the multibed screen of the CNS, Then the logic circuit device provides a user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarm from the central nursing station thereby eliminating the need to go to the monitor to acknowledge the alarm. An encoder forwards an acknowledgement signal to the individual monitor to silence the alarm displayed in the monitor, whenever an alarm alert is received from the monitor and displayed on the CNS. However the alarm condition is displayed continuously in the CNS until the measured parameter is within the preset alarm limit or the alarm condition sizes to exist.
[0021] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided to receive and acknowledge the alarms from the monitors installed at the bedside of the each patient. The alarm conditions are generated when the measured physiological parameters with the monitors exceed the respective preset alarm limit for the parameters. The generated alarm condition is classified into white, yellow and red accordingly. The multi bed screen or the parameter screen or the split screen

displays the alarm condition with the classified color code. A logic circuit device is activated to provide a graphical user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarm from the central nursing station thereby eliminating the need to go to the monitor to silence and acknowledge the alarm condition. However the alarm condition will be displayed in the CNS until the measured parameter falls below the preset alarm limit. An encoder forwards an acknowledgement signal to the individual monitor to silence the alarm displayed in the monitor, whenever an alarm alert is received from the monitor and displayed on the CNS.
[0022] Thus the monitoring medical personnel at the ICU or CNS can silence all alarms that do not require action to be taken on them. Thus the unnecessary movement of the medical staff around the monitors and patients in ICU is avoided thereby improving the operating efficiency of the ICU.
[0023] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
E) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

[0025] FIGURE. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of a central nursing station provided with an alarm receiving and acknowledgement device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] FIGURE.2 illustrates a flow chart explaining the operation of the alarm receiving and acknowledgement device provided in a central nursing station, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0027] Although specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.
F) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which the specific embodiments that may be practiced is shown by way of illustration. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and it is to be understood that the logical, mechanical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense.
[0029] The various embodiments of the present invention provide an alarm receiving and acknowledgement system for a central nursing station to enable a monitoring

personnel to receive the audio and the video alarms from the plurality of the monitors and to acknowledge the alarms from a single central point thereby avoiding the unwanted movement of the nursing personnel in silencing the alarm to improve the working condition.
[0030] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a logic circuit device is provided to enable a monitoring personnel posted at the central nursing station to receive all the audio and the video alarms generated at the plurality of the personal monitoring systems installed at the bed side of each patient in an ICU and to acknowledge the alarms from a central location easily.
[0031] The logic circuit device provides the user with the option of acknowledging an alarm at the CNS, through a single click on the window (allotted for a particular patient) in which the alarming condition is displayed. The device allows us to prevent the generation of commotion that might result, when the alarm from the muUiple patient monitoring units are not acknowledged.
[0032] The present invention provides a user interface application. So even a semi skilled or unskilled person monitoring the patients at the CNS may operate the logic device easily to acknowledge and silence the alarms received from the multiple patient monitoring units installed at the bedside of each patient. An encoder forwards an acknowledgement signal to the individual monitor to silence the alarm displayed in the monitor, whenever an alarm alert is received from the monitor and displayed on the CNS.

[0033] The logic device of the present invention enables a user to acknowledge an alarm while sitting in front of the CNS and eliminates the need to go near the patient monitoring unit each time to acknowledge the alarm. Thus the alarm receiving system of the present invention improves the efficiency of the CNS effectively, by monitoring the condition of each patient constantly and taking appropriate and suitable action during the emergency condition of the patient efficiently.
[0034] Even though the Alarm is acknowledged with a single click, to merely stop the audio alarm and the flashing display, the alarm condition will be displayed continuously by retaining the respective alarm colour in the background of the Bed with the alarm condition. Thus the alarm is indicated and displayed at the CNS until the monitored parameter is within the preset alarm range.
[0035] Thus the monitoring medical persoimel at the ICU or CNS can silence all alarms that do not require action to be taken on them. Thus the unnecessary movement of the medical staff around the monitors and patients in ICU is avoided thereby improving the operating efficiency of the ICU.
[0036] According to one embodiment of the present invention, it provides a central nursing station with a system to receive and acknowledge the alarms that are generated at each patient monitoring unit, when the measured parameter at each monitor exceeds the preset alarm limit for the parameter. Then the alarm condition is classified as red, yellow and white based on the criticality of the measured parameters. The bed number of the patient whose measured parameter exceeds the preset alarm limit is displayed with the classified alarm color in the multibed screen of the CNS.

Then the logic circuit device provides a user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarm from the central nursing station thereby eliminating the need to go to the monitor to acknowledge the alarm. However the alarm condition is displayed continuously in the CNS until the measured parameter is within the preset alarm limit or the alarm condition do not exist. An encoder forwards an acknowledgement signal to the individual monitor to silence the alarm displayed in the monitor, whenever an alarm alert is received from the monitor and displayed on the CNS.
[0037] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided to receive and acknowledge the alarms from the monitors installed at the bedside of the each patient. The alarm conditions are generated when the measured physiological parameters with the monitors exceed the respective preset alarm limit for the parameters. The generated alarm condition is classified into white, yellow and red accordingly. The multi bed screen or the parameter screen or the split screen displays the alarm condition with the classified color code. A logic circuit device is activated to provide a graphical user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarm from the central nursing station thereby eliminating the need to go to the monitor to silence and acknowledge the alarm condition. However the alarm condition will be displayed in the CNS until the measured parameter falls below the preset alarm limit. An encoder forwards an acknowledgement signal to the individual monitor to silence the alarm displayed in the monitor, whenever an alarm alert is received from the monitor and displayed on the CNS.

[0038] Thus the monitoring medical personnel at the ICU or CNS can silence all alarms that do not require any action to be taken on them. Thus the unnecessary movement of the medical staff around the monitors and patients in ICU is avoided thereby improving the operating efficiency of the ICU.
[0039] The FIG.l illustrates a functional block diagram of a central nursing station provided with an alarm receiving and acknowledgement device according to one embodiment of the present invention. With respect to FIG.l, The CNS is connected to the pluralities of the monitors that are installed at the bed side of each patient in the intensive care unit to detect and measure the various physiological parameters like ECG, EEG, artery pressure, cardiac output etc., though a converter card module. The CNS has an acquisition module to collect all the measured physiological parameters of the patients. The collected physiological parameters are stored in a shared buffer. The stored parameters in the shared buffer are forwarded to a display subsystem through a decoder. The stored parameters are decoded with the decoder. The decoded parameters are displayed in the display windows such as multipara screen, multibed screen and split screen in a digital format or waveform format. The mutipara screen displays all the measured physiological parameter of a specific patient, while the multibed screen displays the most vital parameters of all the patients. The split screen displays the real time measured parameters of a specific patient during the freezing of the multipara screen for diagnosing an event.
[0040] An alarm condition is generated when the received parameter level exceeds the pre set alarm condition. Then the alarm condition is classified as red, yellow and white based on the criticality of the measured parameters. The bed number of the

patient whose measured parameter exceeds the preset alarm limit is displayed with the classified alarm color in the multibed screen of the CNS. When the measured level of a specific physiological parameter exceeds the respective preset alarm limit of the specific physiological parameter, an alarm condition is generated and the alarm condition of the specific parameter is displayed in the multipara screen. The alarm condition is displayed in red or yellow or white colors according to the classification or the criticality of the alarm level. Similarly the alarm condition of a specified vital parameter of a specific patient is displayed in the split screen, when the measured vital parameter of the specified patient exceeds the preset alarm limit.
[0041] A logic circuit device provides a user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarms displayed in the muUibed screen, multipara screen and the split screen from the central nursing station itself thereby eliminating the need to go to the individual monitor in which the alarm is generated, to acknowledge the alarm. An encoder sends an alarm acknowledgement signal to the respective monitor in which the alarm condition is generated, to acknowledge and silence the alarm. However the alarm condition is displayed continuously in the CNS until the measured parameter is within the preset alarm limit or the alarm condition sizes to exist.
[0042] The FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart explaining the operation of the alarm receipt and acknowledgement device providing display priority setting device according to one embodiment of the preset invention. The collected physiological parameters of all the patients are received from the pluralities of the monitors installed in the bedside of each patient in the intensive care unit. The received most vital parameter data from all the monitors are displayed in a multibed screen. When a multipara option is selected

on the menu bar and a bed number is chosen corresponding to a specific patient, all the measured physiological parameters of the specific patient are displayed in the multipara screen. A dedicated split screen is provided to display the measured vital parameters of a specified patient in real time when the multipara screen is frozen.
[0043] An alarm condition is generated when the received parameter level exceeds the preset alarm condition. Then the alarm condition is classified as red, yellow and white based on the criticality of the measured parameters. The bed number of the patient whose measured parameter exceeds the preset alarm limit is displayed with the classified alarm color in the muhibed screen of the CNS. When the measured level of a specific physiological parameter exceeds the respective preset alarm limit of the specific physiological parameter, an alarm condition is generated and the alarm condition of the specific parameter is displayed in the multipara screen. The alarm condition is displayed in red or yellow or white colors according to the classification or the criticality of the alarm level. Similarly the alarm condition of a specified vital parameter of a specific patient is displayed in the split screen, when the measured vital parameter of the specified patient exceeds the preset alarm limit.
[0044] A logic circuit device provides a user interface to enable the user to acknowledge the alarms displayed in the multibed screen, multipara screen and the split screen from the central nursing station itself thereby eliminating the need to go to the individual monitor in which the alarm is generated, to acknowledge the alarm. An encoder sends an alarm acknowledgement signal to the respective monitor at which the alarm condition is generated, to acknowledge and silence the alarm. However the

alarm condition is displayed continuously in the CNS until the measured parameter is within the preset alarm limit or the alarm condhion do not exist.
[0045] A logic circuit enables the doctor to set the alarm conditions for the measured physiological parameters of the specific patient so that the alarm alerts which satisfy the preset alarm conditions alone are displayed in the alarm recall screen and stored in the alarm recall database thereby optimizing the storage capacity of the database. Thus the storage of most critical parameters and critical alarms are ensured while preventing the storage of unwanted and less critical alarm alerts.
[0046] Thus the various embodiments of the present invention provides an alarm receiving and acknowledgement system with a logic circuit device to receive and acknowledge all the alarm received from the patient monitoring units installed at the bed side of each patient easily and effectively by performing a single click operation at the CNS, The unwanted movement of the medical personnel near the monitors to acknowledge the alarms is prevented thereby avoiding the generation of unwanted commotion and disturbance in the ICU and improving the efficiency of the medical care provided to each patient in the ICU.
G) ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0047] Thus the various embodiments of the present invention provides an alarm receiving and acknowledgement system with a logic circuit device to receive and acknowledge all the alarm received from the patient monitoring units installed at the bed side of each patient easily and effectively by performing a single click operation

at the CNS. The unwanted movement of the medical personnel near the monitors to acknowledge the alarms is prevented thereby avoiding the generation of unwanted commotion and disturbance in the ICU and improving the efficiency of the medical care provided to each patient in the ICU.
[0048] Although the invention is described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art to practice the invention with modifications. However, all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the claims.
[0049] It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the present invention described herein and all the statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall there between.

CLAIMS
1. An alarm receipt and acknowledgement device for central nursing station
including display windows to display the measured physiological parameters
received from pluralities of monitors installed at the bedside of each patient in
an intensive care unit, the device comprising:
A logic circuit device to receive and acknowledge an alarm condition that is received from pluralities of said monitors and displayed on said central nursing station; and
An encoder to send acknowledgement signal to individual monitor to silence the alarm generated in the monitor, when an alarm condition is displayed in the said central nursing station.
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the logic circuit device is activated to display a graphical user interface in the display screen of said central nursing station to enable monitoring persormel to acknowledge the displayed alarm from the central nursing station itself
3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the monitoring personnel is a medical doctor diagnosing the health condition of patients at the intensive care unit.

4. The device according to claim 2, wherein the monitoring personnel is a nursing attendant.
5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the monitors are installed at the bedside of each patient to detect and measure the physiological parameter of each patient.
6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the measured physiological parameter is heart rate.
7. The device according to claim 5, wherein the measured physiological parameter is electrocardiograph values.
8. The device according to claim 5, wherein the measured physiological parameter is non-invasive cardiac output.
9. The device according to claim 5, wherein the measured physiological parameter is artery pressure value.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein an alarm condition is generated when a measured physiological parameter level exceed the preset alarm limit.
11. An alarm receiving and acknowledgement method in central nursing station including display windows to display the measured physiological parameters

received from pluralities of monitors installed at the bedside of each patient in an intensive care unit, the method comprising:
Activating a logic circuit device to receive and acknowledge alarm condition displayed on central nursing station; and
Forwarding an alarm acknowledgement signal to individual monitor to silence the alarm generated in the monitor, when an alarm condition is displayed.
12. The method according to claim 11, the logic circuit device is activated to provide a graphical user interface to enable medical personnel to acknowledge the displayed alarm condition in the central nursing station itself without going to the individual monitor where the alarm is generated.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the monitoring personnel is a medical doctor diagnosing the health condition of patients at intensive care unit.
14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the monitoring personnel is a nursing attendant.
15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the monitors are installed at the bedside of each patient to detect and measure the physiological parameter of each patient.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measured physiological parameter is heart rate.
17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measured physiological parameter is electrocardiograph values,
18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measured physiological
parameter is non-invasive cardiac output.
19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measured physiological
parameter is artery pressure value.
20. The method according to claim 15, wherein an alarm condition is generated
when a measured physiological parameter level exceed the preset alarm limit.
21. A central nursing station comprising a device to receive and acknowledge an
alarm received from pluralities of monitors installed at each patient in
intensive care unit.