A rechargeable pulse oximeter for remote monitoring of multiple patients

Abstract

Pulse oximetry is a widely used medical respiratory method that is used to measure arterial blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate. Pulse oximeters enable measurements of the oxygen saturation in blood, which is an essential parameter in most clinical applications including diagnosis and rehabilitation. The demand for pulse oximeters is rapidly rising with the increasing occurrence of respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases. However, the existing pulse oximeters can only be used for a single patient, and multiple patient monitoring systems for patients in hospitals and home-based patients are not yet available in the current market. The existing devices also require manual patient data recording and frequent examinations of oxygen saturation levels. Also, most of the existing pulse oximeters are powered by batteries which will have to be periodically replaced. Hence, the main aim of this research is to develop a wireless wearable pulse oximeter for continuous patient monitoring by incorporating communication technologies such as the IoT technology- the Internet of Things. The proposed pulse oximeter will be a rechargeable one that allows Wi-Fi data transmission for temporary data storage. This is used for remote monitoring of multiple patients over a vast geographical area and it supports contact minimization to reduce transmissible diseases. An integrated alarming system is used to warn the doctor if the oxygen levels deplete abnormally, through a mobile application. The developed pulse oximeter has the ability to monitor 62 patients successfully, for a period of 2 days without charging. This non-invasive device will be developed in the future to support more patients, to increase the accuracy and the stability of the data displayed, and to minimize the time delay experienced during the transmission of data.