A new bed-exiting alarm system for welfare facility residents

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Geriatric Care Technology

Background:

• Elderly residents in welfare facilities are at risk of falls or wandering when leaving their beds unsupervised.
• Existing monitoring systems may lack specificity or be intrusive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel, non-intrusive alarm system for detecting bed exits in welfare facility residents.
• To differentiate between resident and staff movements to reduce false alarms.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a stainless steel tape electrode floor mat as a bed-exiting detection sensor.
• Employed a low-power 8-bit microcomputer to analyze changes in induced AC voltage on the resident's body.
• Integrated a power line communication system or Personal Handy phone System (PHS) for staff alerts.

Main Results:

• The system accurately detects resident movements associated with leaving the bed.
• The system demonstrated specificity by not triggering for care staff wearing shoes or slippers.
• Alerts were successfully transmitted to the care staff station.

Conclusions:

• The developed alarm system offers a promising solution for enhanced safety and monitoring of welfare facility residents.
• This technology can help prevent adverse events related to unsupervised bed exits.
• The system's design is low-power and utilizes existing room wiring for communication.