Proposal and Implementation of Support System for Care Workers Using Non- Contact Vital Signs Sensor and Low-power Wide-area
Shunya Hibino, Takeshi Wada, Takanobu Otsuka · 2023
In Japan, the demand for nursing care is increasing with the aging of the population. On the other hand, the nursing care industry is facing a serious problem of increasing the burden on care workers due to a shortage of labor. In this study, we proposed and implemented a support system for care workers that can detect when multiple persons requiring nursing care exit the bed and display vital data using a non-contact vital sensor, which is non-invasive and psychologically less burdensome for persons requiring nursing care. We mounted our board on the vital sensor and wirelessly sent vital data to a database server via Low-power Wide-area to create a visualization site to support care workers. We also realized a linkage mechanism with the nurse calls system using a photo relay. The visualization site assists care workers by displaying the history of persons being in or out of bed, displaying vital data, and comparing the data with past vital data. As an evaluation of the system, we conducted a demonstration experiment at a nursing home to evaluate the system and demonstrated its effectiveness of the system by checking the sleeping hours, awakenings at night, and vital data trends, of persons requiring care from the implemented visualization site.