Integrated System for Pressure Ulcers Monitoring and Prevention

Pressure ulcers are a critical issue for patients and healthcare professionals, requiring their frequent monitoring, with a consequent impact on healthcare costs. This problem has been gaining attention and approaches have been proposed, using sensor-based systems, to facilitate this monitoring and help health caregivers to achieve greater effectiveness in the treatment of this type of ulcer. In this paper, the architecture, and the prototype of a new system for pressure ulcer monitoring and prevention are presented. It considers information related to both intrinsic and extrinsic predisposing factors and it addresses the components of data acquisition, data analysis, and production of complementary support to well-informed clinical decision-making. The system includes a pressure ulcer management portal and a mobile application, that allows caregivers to manage clinical information about pressure ulcers of the patients and uses data acquired from a pressure sensor sheet under the mattress to provide useful information for monitoring the patients. Considering the situation of each patient, the system will produce indicators/alerts to healthcare professionals, simultaneously improving pressure-ulcer patient care quality and safety and minimizing the burnout in healthcare professionals.