A patient care system, comprising: a plurality of patient care devices (48), where one or more of the patient care devices or systems (44, 46, 48) is capable of operating in one of several selectable modes, each having a memory for storing at least one device-specific configuration dataset and a first processor (60) configured to operate the patient care device in accordance with the stored configuration dataset, wherein the first processor is configured to receive selection of a specific configuration dataset defining a particular operating behavior for the device； a configuration database (84) containing multiple elements for a plurality of patient care devices including medical treatment guidelines and device operating characteristics associated with a plurality of device behaviors, the elements defining a behavior； and loading means for selectively loading at least one device-specific configuration datasets into the one or more of the patient care devices in accordance with the selected device behavior.
