Abstract
This paper proposes a monitoring system retro-fittable for existing Intravenous (IV) infusion setup. Traditionally, doctors and nurses use their experience to estimate the time required by an IV bottle to empty which makes the IV therapy vulnerable to human error. The current study proposes an internet connected monitoring platform for IV drip chambers. The device enables doctors and nursing staff to monitor the drip parameters wirelessly while emphasizing on low costs and high degree of reliability. It has two main units, namely chamber unit and pole unit. Chamber unit houses two types of sensors, optical based for drop detection and capacitive based for level detection, both of which are placed on the chamber unit. The pole unit majorly consists of a microcontroller and a GSM-based (Global System Mobile Communication) communication module. In addition, the device was tested along with various parameters like accuracy, readout stability, change in fluid used, changes in ambient conditions, end chamber conditions, optical unit malfunctions. Finally, the monitored data was securely and reliably transmitted to commercial cloud service using HTTP API calls (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) (Application Programming Interface). This data was stored and visualized for ease of readability for nurses and doctors.
Highlights
Intravenous therapy is a process of administering medicine into the body directly through the veins
Drop detection is an essential component of an IV drip system
Dextrose 25% in Water (D25) is another common liquid used in IV therapy
Summary
Intravenous therapy is a process of administering medicine into the body directly through the veins. It is the fastest way of delivering fluids and medications throughout the body as it utilizes the effective cardiovascular channel and its natural pumping forces. The major bottleneck of the process is monitoring the medicine bottle. This is necessary so that the doctor or the nurse can know when to change the bottle. The bottle is changed when it is completely empty The time it takes to empty is variable and depends on parameters such as medicine quantity used, changes in back-pressure due to systolic-diastolic and non-quantifiable dilation or contractions of veins
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call