Institute of Systems and Robotics, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 2024 Dec;62(12):3815-3840. doi: 10.1007/s11517-024-03155-3. Epub 2024 Jul 22.
Conventional patient monitoring in healthcare has limitations such as delayed identification of deteriorating conditions, disruptions to patient routines, and discomfort due to extensive wiring for bed-bound patients. To address these, we have recently developed an innovative IoT-based healthcare system for real-time wireless patient monitoring. This system includes a flexible epidermal patch that collects vital signs using low power electronics and transmits the data to IoT nodes in hospital beds. The nodes connect to a smart gateway that aggregates the information and interfaces with the hospital information system (HIS), facilitating the exchange of electronic health records (EHR) and enhancing access to patient vital signs for healthcare professionals. Our study validates the proposed smart bed architecture in a clinical setting, assessing its ability to meet healthcare personnel needs, patient comfort, and data transmission reliability. Technical performance assessment involves analyzing key performance indicators for communication across various interfaces, including the wearable device and the smart box, and the link between the gateway and the HIS. Also, a comparative analysis is conducted on data from our architecture and traditional hospital equipment. Usability evaluation involves questionnaires completed by patients and healthcare professionals. Results demonstrate the robustness of the architecture proposed, exhibiting reliable and efficient information flow, while offering significant improvements in patient monitoring over conventional wired methods, including unrestricted mobility and improved comfort to enhance healthcare delivery.
传统的医疗保健患者监测存在一些局限性，例如延迟识别病情恶化、破坏患者日常作息以及对卧床患者进行广泛布线带来的不适。为了解决这些问题，我们最近开发了一种创新的基于物联网的医疗保健实时无线患者监测系统。该系统包括一个灵活的表皮贴片，使用低功耗电子设备收集生命体征，并将数据传输到医院病床上的物联网节点。节点连接到一个智能网关，该网关汇总信息并与医院信息系统 (HIS) 接口，便于电子健康记录 (EHR) 的交换，并增强了医疗保健专业人员对患者生命体征的访问。我们的研究在临床环境中验证了所提出的智能床架构，评估其满足医疗保健人员需求、患者舒适度和数据传输可靠性的能力。技术性能评估涉及分析各种接口（包括可穿戴设备和智能盒）以及网关和 HIS 之间的通信的关键性能指标。此外，还对我们架构和传统医院设备的数据进行了比较分析。可用性评估涉及患者和医疗保健专业人员完成的问卷调查。结果表明，所提出的架构具有稳健性，表现出可靠和高效的信息流，同时在患者监测方面提供了对传统有线方法的显著改进，包括不受限制的移动性和提高的舒适度，以增强医疗保健服务。
