Categories are established for use in physiological monitoring devices and these categories are prioritized such that data indicative of a critical event self-triggers a communication to an external receiver for the purpose of re-transmitting the critical data for use by a clinician. The categories can be established by the clinician and, if desired, the precise monitored data parameters can be assigned to specific categories. Far-field transmission can be used to send certain stored data to an external receiver, provision is made for externally charging the device batteries.