A system for monitoring a patient includes a garment including a controller and one or more temperature sensors, and a receiving station configured to communicate with the garment over a wireless communication network. The garment may be operable in an inactive mode in which the controller samples the temperature sensors to generate a first set of temperature measurements, and an active mode in which the controller samples the temperature sensors to generate a second set of temperature measurements and the garment communicates the second set of temperature measurements to the receiving station, where the controller transitions the garment from the inactive mode to the active mode based at least in part on the first set of temperature measurements and/or other sensor data such as garment motion data and/or garment orientation data.
