A patient monitoring system and method is disclosed herein. The system includes one or more patient monitors that obtain physiological data from a patient. Based upon the physiological data obtained from the patient, as well as the information available for the patient in an electronic health record, an algorithm selection device determines which one of a plurality of early warning algorithms are best suited for use in monitoring a patient. One or more early warning algorithms can be presented to a user for selection. Once the algorithm selection device or the user determines which of a plurality of early warning algorithms would be most effective, the early warning algorithm is downloaded to the patient monitor for use by the patient monitor. The patient monitor utilizes the downloaded early warning algorithm to generate alarms and alerts to indicate the health status of the patient being monitored.
