Some medical monitoring devices produce waveform tracings. Such monitoring devices include fetal heart rate monitors, uterine contraction monitors, blood pressure monitors, respiratory monitors, heart rhythm monitors, and the like. These waveform tracings may be presented on a display device associated with, for example, a central location such as a nursing unit at a healthcare facility. In some instances, the display device may present multiple waveform tracings associated with different patients on the unit. Currently, multiple waveform tracings are not presented in such a way as to effectively utilize all of the available display space on the display device. Instead, the multiple waveform tracings may be displayed in one small area of the display screen, and the rest of the display screen is left blank in anticipation of additional waveform tracings needing to be displayed.
Another problem with the current system is that when a new patient is admitted to the unit and is connected to a monitoring device, a caregiver must manually select the patient on the display device to initiate the presentation of the waveform tracing associated with the monitoring device. Likewise, when a patient is no longer connected to a monitoring device, the caregiver must manually de-select the patient on the display device to remove information associated with the monitoring device.