Greetings,
Newbie and NON-electronics physician looking for help. I have some very basic electronics understanding, but consider me a moron to be safe.
My problem is I have a medical infusion clinic that needs to use infusion pumps to provide intravenous medications. When the pumps alarm, they create a horribly disturbing and obnoxious alarm that severely disrupts the patient for our very unique application. It is counter-productive to the therapy we provide. (Sierraketamineclinics.com)
I want to disable the speakers in the pumps and replace with a radio controlled remote alarm--either audible or visible/light/strobe.
I have enough experience to disable the speakers (and we have warranty okay from the company), but I am curious what the easiest solution might be to replace the speaker with a radio/other to relay the signal to the nurses station, so we can still be alerted when the pump alarms.
Additionally, we have four infusion rooms, so the ability to have four separate and distinguishable signals would be important.
Can any of you electronics wizards suggest a solution?

I and my patients thank you immensely for your expertise and willingness to help.

Bob

 

Would a pleasing identifying local machine speaker tone suffice?

Or do you insist on remote alarm indication? i.e.....a remote radio link?

 

BR-549
Thank you for your response. Any noise is quite disturbing to our patients during their infusion, so we would like to eliminate any noise. Couple that with the fact that often the lights are kept low and the room door is nearly closed and the alarm would still have to be unacceptably loud.
Thus, I think the remote radio link would be best.

Bob

 

ok.......I can understand your concern. Most probably wouldn't want to modify a piece of medical equipment. I wouldn't.

But if I had an alarm clock that sounded nasty....in five different rooms......and if I was in the kitchen and needed to know when alarm went off..........there are different ways to do it.

First of all.......is the local speaker needed for any other indications? Is the alarm the only speaker function?

 

The speakers only function is for the alarm. With regard to fiddling with medical equipment, I understand your concern, and if it were anything other that disabling or replacing a speaker, I too would be disinclined. Again, we did check with the company first and even got instructions on how to perform the task. Thank you, BR.

 

Something tells me your hospital and / or insurance company isn't going to sit too kindly with you mucking with the equipment. That alarm is there for a reason. Should something happen and they find you have been messing with the equipment you will likely not be covered by your insurance, even the issue had little to do with the changes you made.

 

What you are looking to do is not all that complicated but will require some electronic skill level and a few basic parts modified for your application. One method would be to start with a commonly called 4-Channel UHF Remote Control and the link is merely an example they can be purchased relatively inexpensive and assembled. I happen to have the one I linked to. You want one with "latching". These use a simple key fob transmitter the same as most key less entries on automobiles. The key fobs are very easily hacked so once you know the speaker signal it is used in place of a key fob button push. Additional key fobs can be bought so each station has a key fob transmitter using one of the 4 channel buttons. The unit I linked to looks like this as to a schematic. When a signal is received from any of the 4 channels it latches a corresponding relay on the receiver board. At the receiver station you would know which room and be able to manually using a button press turn off the notification.

This is roughly how I would go about it wireless and the range is about 100 feet but they generally do much better depending on obstructions. As to any liabilities? That is between you, your insurance and the machine manufacturer.

Ron

 

The speakers only function is for the alarm. With regard to fiddling with medical equipment, I understand your concern, and if it were anything other that disabling or replacing a speaker, I too would be disinclined. Again, we did check with the company first and even got instructions on how to perform the task. Thank you, BR.

Someone beat me too it. I would have a tech come in from the company and make the changes for you. You do not want to me messing with that equipment.

 

Another IOT project. WiFi connected infuser. The vendor must do it. Must mate with processor. You could vary rates remotely.

Do your offices have IT trays/runs installed? Are the infusers more or less stationary?

Using a twisted pair, you could hardwire an indicator light to the kitchen.

Or maybe just cotton balls and tape until the IOT module comes out.

What is the worse that could happen.....if the alarm is not acknowledged?

 

You could probably do this without electrically altering the machine in any way. If you could open the case and dislodge the speaker from where it's attached, you could probably tape a piezo sensor to it. These little speakers and sonalert devices are easily muffled with tape. I used to see it all the time in plants, where the operators have sealed over critical information alert speaker with tape, instead relying on their own intuition to know when there is a fault.

The tape serves 2 purposes; silence the speaker, and hold a piezo sensor in place. Even with tape over it, the speaker should still generate some vibration that the piezo can pick up. Run a twisted pair out of the case and into the ceiling, then come back down in the other room. Interface the wires in that room to a circuit that detects voltage from the piezo and lights a lamp.

 

In the simplest case, you can use the baby monitor. In the patient's room there must be a modernized baby monitor. On the input (parallel to the microphone), connect the signal that was sent to the loudspeaker.

 

Something tells me your hospital and / or insurance company isn't going to sit too kindly with you mucking with the equipment. That alarm is there for a reason. Should something happen and they find you have been messing with the equipment you will likely not be covered by your insurance, even the issue had little to do with the changes you made.

+100!

 

Alarm means different things to different people. http://s3.amazonaws.com/rdcms-aami/...ationalCoalition/9. Freeman_SmithsMedical.pdf

So, now what? You have multiple loudness levels, silence levels etc.

Wouldn't these pumps have some sort of interface connector on them?

Then there is "speaker". It may not even be a speaker. It could just be a buzzer or a piezo driver that just likes one tone. Your alarms may be On/OFF with different timings based on the alarm.

So, all of those things may have to be looked at.

In any event, this http://www.linear-access-controls.com/su4chredx.html kinda lets you use the transmitters, but the transmitters are what the company thinks you want. This part is a receiver.
You have supervision of low battery and not being able to communicate, because this is essential for security applications. In another part of the home their PERS-2400 base uses the same transmitters.

You have a whole bunch of options. http://www.linear-access-controls.com/su4chredx.html but not what I think would be worthwhile.

You can;t send your own trouble signal or one you make up.

So, let's say you had a water alarm that operated on a 9V battery with a piezo noisemaker. Now lets say, you hacked a transmitter so you could push the ALARM button. But you want to hack the water alarm so it has a low battery alarm too and you want that to activate it as well.

I have one of these http://www.thermoworks.com/RT8100, a refrigerator alarm. I haven't hacked it yet, but ALARM would be good and so would low battery. It's got a light on the alarm thing.
OK,
Notes: Fridge/Freezer:
Alarm/LED blinks and only sounds for 30 min
Yield sign shows on display
(Counter counts)
Uses 2 x AAA batteries (I think)
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Notes: Fridge/Freezer:

Alarm/LED blinks and only sounds for 30 min

Yield sign shows on display

(Counter counts)

Uses 2 x AAA batteries (I think)
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Notes: Fridge/Freezer:
Alarm/LED blinks and only sounds for 30 min
Yield sign shows on display
(Counter counts)
Uses 2 x AAA batteries (I think)

But what happens is the alarm can't be seen if it's downstairs in the basement and the alarm is as quiet as a mouse and then it stops making noise.

Found this https://www.sti-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/34108Install.pdf recently, but I don;t know what to make of it.

 

Greetings,
Newbie and NON-electronics physician looking for help. I have some very basic electronics understanding, but consider me a moron to be safe.
My problem is I have a medical infusion clinic that needs to use infusion pumps to provide intravenous medications. When the pumps alarm, they create a horribly disturbing and obnoxious alarm that severely disrupts the patient for our very unique application. It is counter-productive to the therapy we provide. (Sierraketamineclinics.com)
I want to disable the speakers in the pumps and replace with a radio controlled remote alarm--either audible or visible/light/strobe.
I have enough experience to disable the speakers (and we have warranty okay from the company), but I am curious what the easiest solution might be to replace the speaker with a radio/other to relay the signal to the nurses station, so we can still be alerted when the pump alarms.
Additionally, we have four infusion rooms, so the ability to have four separate and distinguishable signals would be important.
Can any of you electronics wizards suggest a solution?

I and my patients thank you immensely for your expertise and willingness to help.

Bob

Hello Bob,

I have some issues with your request and this thread in general.

I am not a clinician or a lawyer or in a regulatory position. My concern is genuine and if I am not understanding well, or I am just plain mistaken, then I will admit as much, and I will apologize for the inconvenience.

You are stating that you are a physician, but in your profile, your occupation is listed as 'student'.

Sierra Ketamine Clinics is real and one of the two physicians listed there (from the link provided in your email) is a Dr. Robert (Bob) Watson.

It seems to me, that Physician-modified FDA-approved devices can certainly be considered "off label" use and are not, as far as I can tell, illegal to use by Physicians. Naturally, there may be a ton of regulations, informed consent and so on and so forth. Again, I am not a clinician or work in a medical regulatory field.

My concern is that there is no way to verify that you are who you say you are, and you are asking for the techniques that could be used to modify, and to some degree, defeat, a safety function of an infusion pump for human use.

Please understand that my concern is genuine and cautious - maybe overly so, but given the anonymous nature of a Forum like this, I think it is sometimes ok to err on the side of caution.

 

This is a project that really is as simple as it sounds, yet could be the focus of a multi-million dollar suit. Submit a detailed written proposal to the pump manufacturer, have an officer of the company sign off on the project, and have your lawyers review everything. They might require that the work be done by a PE.

There are many 4-channel wireless remote control systems on ebay for $10-ish. If you start with one receiver and four, 4-button transmitters, then a 1-transistor circuit will adapt the pump speaker output voltage (with the speaker removed) to drive one of the 4 button contacts on the small transmitter board. That gets you four unique radio signals and one receiver that can differentiate among them.

The receiver has four relays with completely isolated contacts. You can use these to control just about anything.

Please post a photo of the speaker. It might be a buzzer instead, which would make things a bit easier.

ak

 

Are these devices already network connected (is there an ethernet port on them)? Strictly from a technical perspective; it is not complicated to disconnect the speaker and connect a radio device that could sense the speaker signal and notify a remote device. It could plug into the wired LAN, use WiFi, dedicated radio signal such as ASK, etc.. Software on the other side could display whatever you want. Technically the basic functionality is not difficult. That being said, if the alarm is in any way related to patient safety as opposed to clinician convenience, then it becomes more complicated and deserves a lot more thought and consideration. In either case, you would need to talk to the equipment manufacturer to be sure that what you do to the device will in no way affect its operation or reliability.

 

Something tells me your hospital and / or insurance company isn't going to sit too kindly with you mucking with the equipment. That alarm is there for a reason. Should something happen and they find you have been messing with the equipment you will likely not be covered by your insurance, even the issue had little to do with the changes you made.

I appreciate your concern, but I have that part of this covered. I know medicine. I need help with electronics. Thanks!

 

Greetings,
Newbie and NON-electronics physician looking for help. I have some very basic electronics understanding, but consider me a moron to be safe.
My problem is I have a medical infusion clinic that needs to use infusion pumps to provide intravenous medications. When the pumps alarm, they create a horribly disturbing and obnoxious alarm that severely disrupts the patient for our very unique application. It is counter-productive to the therapy we provide. (Sierraketamineclinics.com)
I want to disable the speakers in the pumps and replace with a radio controlled remote alarm--either audible or visible/light/strobe.
I have enough experience to disable the speakers (and we have warranty okay from the company), but I am curious what the easiest solution might be to replace the speaker with a radio/other to relay the signal to the nurses station, so we can still be alerted when the pump alarms.
Additionally, we have four infusion rooms, so the ability to have four separate and distinguishable signals would be important.
Can any of you electronics wizards suggest a solution?

I and my patients thank you immensely for your expertise and willingness to help.

Bob

Piezo speakers often have encapsulation with a sound hole - a lump of Blue-Tack is all you need.

Moving coil speakers can be tamed with nothing more than a series resistor.

Be very careful about adding anything to medical equipment - the manufacturer spent a lot on making sure the patient doesn't have any earth returns that could carry lethal current if a fault occurs. Even 9V battery kit is enough for iontophoresis, can cause scarring if you're unlucky.

A transmitter could run off existing power rails so isolation isn't compromised - you really need an off the shelf module that operates in a license exempt band, WiFi springs to mind but you'll probably have to rig a laptop to detect and respond.

 

Quick and dirty; put a small micro processor on the medical box that detects the signal to the (now disconnected) speaker and provides a network interface. The processor can respond to REST web querries. At your monitoring station, create a web page that periodically polls each of the medical devicves, and depending on the response can display a message, play a sound, both, etc.. You can make a proof of concept with an arduino, slap on an enterhent or wifi shield and use the existing libraries to respond to querries via http.

 

Quick and dirty; put a small micro processor on the medical box that detects the signal to the (now disconnected) speaker and provides a network interface. The processor can respond to REST web querries. At your monitoring station, create a web page that periodically polls each of the medical devicves, and depending on the response can display a message, play a sound, both, etc.. You can make a proof of concept with an arduino, slap on an enterhent or wifi shield and use the existing libraries to respond to querries via http.

That is "quick and dirty" for someone that knows nothing about electronics??? Really??