Smart Mat Used for Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries

TL;DR

This paper presents a smart mat with pressure sensors designed to monitor patient body pressure distribution, aiming to prevent hospital-acquired pressure injuries and assist medical staff through real-time data visualization and alerts.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pressure-sensing smart mat using Velostat sensors, integrated with Arduino and Python for real-time monitoring, pressure alarm, and posture prediction.

Findings

Effective pressure distribution monitoring achieved

Long-term pressure alarm system implemented

Posture prediction functionality demonstrated

Abstract

This work develops a smart mat for monitoring body positions. We use Velostat as a force sensor resistance (FSR) to construct a sensor matrix over the mat to receive the pressure distribution of the patient's body, and then upload the processed distribution information to the PC for data visualization through Arduino. Data visualization on the PC side is compiled through Python language to realize the functions of patient body pressure distribution monitoring, long-term pressure alarm and posture prediction. The purpose of this work is to relieve the work stress on medical staff caused by pressure injuries during the treatment and care of patients during the pandemic. This paper includes the literature review on similar previous works and combines the test results to design the structure and circuit of the smart mat.