On triage system

Abstract

Introduction: Triage is the process of categorizing patients in emergency situation according to the severity of their injuries or sickness. This is done in order to give medical attention to those who need it first, to minimize loss of life from injuries. Aims: This article aims to create an electronic triage system based on the Raspberry Pi computer and Arduino microcontroller. The Raspberry Pi computer wirelessly receives data measured by the Arduino and analyses the data after which it automatically categorizes patients with minimal human intervention. Results: The Raspberry Pi runs a graphical user interface-based system that is used to display results and allow for users to input data into the database. The system contains two functionalities, emergency mode (MODE 1) and emergency department mode (MODE 2). MODE 1 is used for urgent outdoor emergency scenarios such as motor vehicle accident with multiple casualties, to determine the seriously injured victims. MODE 2 can be integrated in a medical center where it is used to determine which patient needs immediate attention in a scenario where there are so many patients waiting. In MODE 2, patient's recent vitals readings can be graphically viewed for further analysis and medical doctors can comment on each patient's progress for future reference. This data is then uploaded to an online server. Conclusion: The article focuses on the design and implementation of triage system which is based on Raspberry Pi.