Automated triage parameters estimation from ECG

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Technology
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Fast triage is critical in mass casualty incidents.
• Existing methods may require expensive or complex equipment.
• Affordable, portable solutions are needed for urgent medical units and volunteers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a low-cost methodology for deriving vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate) from ECG signals.
• To enable rapid patient assessment in mass casualty scenarios.
• To leverage affordable, portable devices for field use.

Main Methods:

• Utilized established algorithms for heart rate and respiratory rate derivation from ECG.
• Implemented R-wave detection, kurtosis computation, smoothing, and peak finding techniques.
• Focused on a methodology suitable for low-cost, portable equipment.

Main Results:

• Achieved a sensitivity of 0.87 for heart rate and 0.74 for respiratory rate.
• Demonstrated a triage process sensitivity of 0.76.
• Exhibited an average execution time of 0.02 seconds, suitable for real-time applications.

Conclusions:

• The proposed ECG-based method offers an effective balance between accuracy and speed for vital signs derivation.
• This approach is robust and suitable for real-time triage in mass casualty events.
• Affordable biosensors and portable devices can significantly enhance emergency medical response capabilities.