Dynamically adjustable frame rate from medical device controller

A medical device monitoring system and method extract information from screen images from medical device controllers, and intelligently vary rates at which the screen images are fetched from the respective medical device controllers, so as to reduce computer network load, timely report high-priority information, such as alarms, and provide information at intervals requested by users. The rates at which the screen images are fetched are automatically varied based on information available to a server, such as available network bandwidth, level of network congestion, number of medical device controllers co-located at a single medical institution or on a given local area network (LAN), alarm status of a medical device controller and/or historical timing information regarding use of medical devices connected to the medical device controllers.