The infusion pumps that I am familiar with have an audible alarm that may wake sleeping patients unnecessarily, or broadcast a weak audio alarm that nurses in loud, dispersed environments(such as chemotherapy wards)have trouble hearing. I suggest putting a low power radio transmitter on the pump that would send an infusion status signal to the nurse's station or nurses. The pump itself would be protected in a Faraday cage environment to prevent RF interference with the workings of the pump itself. And/or, in a loud environment, a flashing beacon could be placed on the top of the IV pole to visually announce the status of the infusion.-- Sunstone, Feb 17 2007 Whoops, I retract this idea http://www.theglobe...ory/Technology/homeWireless can disrupt medical devices [Sunstone, Jun 25 2008] Baked, baked. Was going to give you a link, but I got a half a million hits on google for wireless infusion monitoring. WelchAllyn, Draeger, Alaris, Hospira... go look.
When you said "beacon" - it reminded me of <embarassing story alert>I was in a hospital for over a month. Major surgery, long recovery, 33 days NPO. I was encouraged to walk around a lot.
One of my favorite walks was to the observation windows facing the hospital's helipad, in a bridge to an adjoining building. One day I walked there, went into the hallway, and found that the doors had locked behind me - it was Sunday and that area was closed. I - with my IV pole and hospital gown - had to go down two flights of stairs, out a parking terrace exit, outside around the helipad, and up the hospital's driveway to the front doors. I got some really strange looks. If only I'd had a wireless beacon... it would have probably been even more embarassing.</esa>-- lurch, Feb 18 2007 random, halfbakery