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CHAPTER 1 The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

The tools and techniques of biotechnology have opened up new doors when it comes to
researching and learning more about the human body and what goes wrong with it when
problems arise.[1]

Due to being able of understanding the molecular base of health and disease, this has lead
scientists to improved methods of treating and preventing those diseases. Biotechnology has
made a huge difference in human health care and has now enabled scientists to develop products
which can give quicker and more accurate tests, therapies that have a lot less side effects and
vaccines which are safer than ever before.
Several biomedical devices, e.g. portable medical devices, were designed during the past
decade. Combined to the recent proliferation of wireless communication solutions, this presents
exciting opportunity for the development of personal electronic health monitoring. For example,
in western European countries and the United States of America, chronic patients are currently
using personal digital assistants to collect and send critical medical data to a follow-up center or
to their attending physicians who also have a similar handheld device connected to internet by
means of a wireless general packet radio services (GPRS) enabled cellular mobile phone [2].
[3]

Continuous health monitoring based on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can greatly
benefit general care patients, including mobile in-patients. WSNs consist of spatially distributed
devices containing sensor units used to acquire and process data and communicate with each
other using a radio frequency channel. These networks are characterized by several features, such
as self-organizing capabilities; short range broadcast communication and multi-hop routing,
frequently changing topology due to fading and node failures, and power limitations.
To be feasible, each sensor network must consist of unobtrusive sensor nodes that consume
very little power, since they must be powered by batteries. On the other hand, the reliance on
these systems depends on the satisfaction of quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as
sustainable throughput, small delay and high reliability. The main difficulty arises from the fact
that some sensors must be sampled quite often,
generating a large amount of data and,
consequently, requiring the network to operate under high load, which is not common in typical
WSN scenarios. Therefore, a careful network design is required, as will be further discussed, to
assure that QoS requirements are achieved. The usage of standard-based communication
technologies with healthcare oriented profiles can offer several benefits, such as:

Standard protocol stacks implementations are reliable and can considerably reduce
development costs.
Standard-based radios and integrated communication modules are cheaper than
customized solutions.
Medical sensors from a variety of manufacturers can coexist and exchange information.
We have developed a system that facilitates collaborative and time-critical patient care in
the emergency response community. During a mass casualty disaster, one of the most urgent
problems at the scene is the overwhelming number of patients that must be monitored and
tracked by each first responder. The ability to automate these tasks could greatly relieve the
workload for each responder, increase the quality and quantity of patient care, and more
efficiently deliver patients to the hospital. Our system accomplishes this through the following
technologies: [4]
Wearable sensors to sense and record vital signs into an electronic patient record
database. This dramatically improves the current time-consuming process of manually recording
vital signs onto hard copy pre-hospital care reports and then converting the reports into electronic
format.
Pre-hospital patient care software with algorithms to continuously monitor patients
vital signs and alert the first responders of critical changes.
A secure web portal that allows authenticated users to collaborate and share real-time
patient information.

Background of the study

According to Healthgrades Eight Annual Safety in American Hospital Study, failure to rescue
events are among the medical errors of highest incident rates in American hospitals, accounting
for a total of 21,773 deaths between 2007 to 2009 . [5] Ideally, all patients should have been
monitored 24/7 with their vital signs to prevent this kind of error. Still, this scenario is contrary
to what presently occurs in most hospitals, where typically few patients out of the intensive and
intermediate care units have their vital signs monitored. To extend the monitoring services to
most hospital patients, monitoring systems must be pervasive, non-intrusive and use low cost
consumable. [6]
Vital signs monitors are used to periodically measure basic vital parameters. These monitors are
typically used in areas, such as hospitals, clinics, and emergency room to track the status of
multiple patients. There are five (5) of cardinal sign such as temperature, heart rate / pulse rate,

respiratory rate, noninvasive blood pressure and level of consciousness. These vital signs
changes with age, sex, weight, exercise tolerance, and condition.
Body temperature
Normal body temperatures can vary and are influenced by factors such as exercise, eating,
sleeping and the time of the day - the lowest temperature is usually recorded at around 3am, the
highest at 6pm.
The average normal body temperature taken in the mouth is 37C (98.6F), but anywhere
between 36.5C and 37.2C (97.7F and 99F) may be normal. Normal armpit temperatures are
0.2C to 0.3C lower than this.
A temperature of 38C (100.4F) or above is usually considered to be a significant fever - you
should measure it again after two to three hours. [7]
Heart rate/pulse rate
The term pulse is a carryover from earlier times, and was used to evaluate the heart-rate. Today
both heart-rate and pulse-rate should be assessed, since they may be different. The heart is
auscultated for rate, rhythm and extra sounds, such as murmurs. Counting both heart-rate and
pulse-rate is easily accomplished at the same time. [8]
Respiratory rate
Respiration is the more critical of the vital signs, since the heart and brain require a definite
amount of oxygen in order to function. In emergencies, the airway is first addressed, then
breathing, then circulationthe ABCs of resuscitation. Apnea for more than 7-10 minutes
usually means irreversible brain damage. Exceptions exist, including infants, and isolated cases
of hypothermia and drowning.
The respiratory rate in adults is 12-18 breaths per minute. In the newborn it is about 40 and
decreases to adult values at age 18. When a person realizes that the respiratory rate will be
observed, he becomes self-conscious and begins to breathe in an odd fashion. Thus, the usual
practice is to examine the heart or pulse and observe respirations without mentioning it. The
respiratory rate in adults is 12-18 breaths per minute. In the newborn it is about 40 and decreases
to adult values at age 18. When a person realizes that the respiratory rate will be observed, he
becomes self-conscious and begins to breathe in an odd fashion. Thus, the usual practice is to
examine the heart or pulse and observe respirations without mentioning it. [9]
Blood pressure

Blood pressure has been termed the "silent killer" because it often does not produce any
noticeable symptoms. It is important to know your blood pressure; maintaining normal levels is
good for overall health as well as for lowering your risk of serious complications. [10]
Normal blood pressure readings are 120/80 or lower. Prehypertension readings are 120 to 139
and the bottom is from 80 to 89. High blood pressure number ranges from 140 to 160 or higher
and the bottom ranges are from 90 to 100 or higher.
These vital signs are needed to monitor by healthcare personnel. Failure to monitor these vital
sign can lead to worsening of patient's condition or worse patient's death .By using vital sign
monitoring system the health professionals and the patient itself can check how his/her vital
signs changes thru out the day.
Objective
General objective
The main objective of this study is to design and develop a VITAL SIGNS MONITORING
SYSTEM as ubiquitous monitoring for health care professionals of elderly patients, comatose
patients and patients with critical condition.
Specific objective
This thesis project focuses on the following specific objectives:
1. The development of a distributed healthcare system for vital signs monitoring using wireless
sensor network devices,
2. To design a device that can monitor the four primary vital signs namely Blood pressure, Body
temperature, respiratory rate and the pulse rate or heart rate.
3. Construct a vital sign monitoring system that is low cost.
4. To find sensors that is appropriate for each vital sign.
5. To create a microcontroller program
6. To display the results on a single LCD display
7. To conduct practical test and performance evaluation for the reliability for such low-rate
wireless technology in ubiquitous health monitoring applications.
8. To develop an accurate results upon testing.
9. To produce a manual on how to use the device correctly

Significance of the study


The study aims to research about wireless transmission of vital signs monitoring. The study is an
advantage to the patient in the rural areas. The device that will be installed at home will become
more efficient to the doctors to check the vital signs of his/her patients. Since there are lots of
patients wanted to have their medication/recovery at home, the researchers foresee the high
potential of the project. The idea of using wireless transmission is to reduce the number of people
in the hospital yet the patients vital signs are monitored by the nurses and the doctor.

Scope and Limitation of the study


This device helps Health care professionals lessen their duties, by giving information on the vital
signs of the patient via wireless network through the on body sensors on the patient. And at the
same time, the family of the patient can also monitor the vital sign of their patient anytime.
Wireless Vital signs monitoring system using on body sensors displayed in a single LCD, has the
capacity to measure the following:
>Blood pressure
>Temperature
>Respiratory rate
>Pulse rate/Heart rate
This device, four (4) vital signs displays in a single LCD can be used at home, school clinics and
hospitals. The device is designed to transmit the vital signs of the patient to Health professionals
and family through sms in case it is not normal.
The said device is not reliable for measuring internal aspects such as acidity due to its accuracy,
compared to the other Vital signs that are external aspects which the device is easy to put on
sensor. Also the said device only sends reading of the said vital signs and particular the health
status of the patient.

Definition of terms
Acronyms
ABCD - Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability

ABCDE - Airway/Breathing/Circulation/Disability/Exposure-Environmental Control


BP - Blood Pressure
C - Centigrade
CPR - Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
ECG - Electrocardiogram
ED - Emergency Department
F - Female or Fahrenheit
HR - Heart Rate
HTN - Hypertension
IV - Intravenous
M - Month or Male
Palp. - Palpated or Palpable
QI - Quality Improvement
RN - Registered Nurse
RR - Respiratory Rate
SpO2 - Oxygen Saturation
T - Temperature
VS - Vital Signs
VSS - Vital Signs Stable

[1] http://www.bio-scope.com/biotechnology-in-healthcare.htm
[2] http://www.ijabme.org/File/vol1no1/p46_52.pdf
[3] http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/17462/1/PervasiveHealth2010-s.pdf
[4]http://www.cs.harvard.edu/~mdw/papers/monitoring-embs05.pdf
[5] HealthGrades, "HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study," 2010.
[6] Helena Fernndez-Lpez, Jos A. Afonso and J. H. Correia , HM4All: A Vital Signs Monitoring System based in

Spatially Distributed ZigBee Networks in Industrial Electronics Engineering Department University of Minho, Guimares, Portugal
[7] http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/fever1.shtml
[8] Vital Signs and Resuscitation by joseph v. steward
[9] Vital Signs and Resuscitation by joseph v. steward
[10] http://www.ehow.com/facts_5811818_important-measure-one_s-blood-pressure_.html
http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9789514263880/isbn9789514263880.pdf

LYCEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES UNIVERSITY


Intramuros, Manila

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

CHAPTER 1

SUBMITTED BY:
ISIP, RICHARD P.
ORACION, AILEEN LENOIR R.
TOLENTINO, MARK RONALD D.
VENTOSO, EUGENE D.
E-546

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