Abstract
In the context of hospital management and operation, Intensive Care Units (ICU) are one of the most challenging in terms of time responsiveness and criticality, in which adequate resource management and signal processing play a key role in overall system performance. In this work, a context aware Intensive Care Unit is implemented and analyzed to provide scalable signal acquisition capabilities, as well as to provide tracking and access control. Wireless channel analysis is performed by means of hybrid optimized 3D Ray Launching deterministic simulation to assess potential interference impact as well as to provide required coverage/capacity thresholds for employed transceivers. Wireless system operation within the ICU scenario, considering conventional transceiver operation, is feasible in terms of quality of service for the complete scenario. Extensive measurements of overall interference levels have also been carried out, enabling subsequent adequate coverage/capacity estimations, for a set of Zigbee based nodes. Real system operation has been tested, with ad-hoc designed Zigbee wireless motes, employing lightweight communication protocols to minimize energy and bandwidth usage. An ICU information gathering application and software architecture for Visitor Access Control has been implemented, providing monitoring of the Boxes external doors and the identification of visitors via a RFID system. The results enable a solution to provide ICU access control and tracking capabilities previously not exploited, providing a step forward in the implementation of a Smart Health framework.
Highlights
Sustainability in the provision of health and social services has become one of the main challenges of public administrations in a wide sense
In the case of social sensor systems, user behavior, which can be combined with biomedical signals, provides monitoring capabilities, which enable users to reside in their households whilst guaranteeing normalized living conditions
The analysis provided in paper is focused in Intensive Care Units (ICU)-A, whichwhich comprises
Summary
Sustainability in the provision of health and social services has become one of the main challenges of public administrations in a wide sense. Sensor networks to aid people in risk of social exclusion [1]; or the combination of e-Health/m-Health services within the context of Smart Cities to provide Smart Health scenarios [2] In this sense, the introduction of communication systems coupled to medical and social service practice allows monitoring physiological signals which aid in the treatment of chronic diseases in a controlled household environment. Multiple specialized medical equipment can be simultaneously in operation, with different medical specialists requiring access to data, both real time as well as in relation with parameter trends These data provide relevant information in relation with items such as treatment control, such as sedation, in which adequate treatment doses can be adjusted to the specific patient needs over time.
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