Low-Cost Wearable for Fatigue and Back-Stress Measurement in Nursing

In recent years the need for informal home care in European countries is growing quickly due to increased life expectancy and demographic change. Informal caregivers have to overcome many obstacles ranging from a lack of adequate training to misjudging their physical and psychological abilities. The aim of this project is to create a low cost wearable device, which unobtrusively measures the physical stress load on caregivers. Two parameters with the most impact on performance and well-being of the caregiver have been identified: (i) fatigue and (ii) back-stress. Based on the measurements, an alert is issued if caregivers are not performing a task correctly, or if they are overexerting themselves. This paper discusses the design of such device and description of an initial prototype, its advantages and possible further development and applications.