Wireless activity reminder system for pressure ulcer prevention in IPD patients

The pressure ulcer is a common but preventable condition sometimes seen in persons who have mobility impairments. Patients requiring long term treatment and who are admitted at an in-patient department (IPD) are at risk of pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers can interfere with patient health recovery, resulting in increased cost of treatment and prolongation of hospital stay. Three factors contributing to pressure ulcers are mobility impairment, nutritional impairment, and skin health impairment. This paper presents a system that can remind IPD nurses to perform a repositioning activity to a patient with mobility impairment according to standard clinical practice guideline (CPG). This helps to relieve interface pressure on patient skin and prevent incidents of pressure ulcers. The system uses Xbee over IEEE 802.15.4 for Point-To-Multipoint wireless communication. The system is designed for easy setup and low-power consumption. The system provides a graphic interfere for non-Technical staff such as nurses to set up and monitor multiple devices installed at patient beds from an IPD nursing center. A prototype was built and tested in an IPD ward of a general public hospital in Thailand. The experiment was designed to ensure that all requirements were fulfilled and ensure CPG of patient repositioning.