Sci.Int.

(Lahore),35(4),417-420,2023 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 417

DEVELOPMENT OF IN-PATIENT DIGITAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: A

HEALTH MONITORING DEVICE FOR PATIENT USING IoT
Christine Marie J. Madrid*, Dominic O. Cagadas
University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines Cagayan de Oro City, 9000, Philippines
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT- Hospitals in the Philippines are overwhelmed and understaffed. Hence, it is inconvenient and challenging
for the nurses to check patients’ vital signs on time, and continuous patient monitoring, especially in-patient monitoring, is
essential to measure and monitor the critical changes in the patient’s status. The advent of technologies like medical
sensors improved hospitals' health care and services. This study develops an innovative form of Remote Health Monitoring
Device in the healthcare industry that makes use of modern sensor technologies. The developed health monitoring system
makes use of an integrated combination of an Arduino Uno and Raspberry Pi 3 Model B microprocessor, connected to
three important sensors: a body temperature sensor, a heart/pulse rate sensor, and an oxygen rate sensor. These sensors
attached to the glove continuously monitor the patient’s vital signs. Through sensor-integrated gloves, the device scans the
patient's fingertips to create a connection between the microcontrollers and a data server. These real-time parameters are
updated and saved straight to the server, providing a constant flow of the patient's critical data. A healthcare
professional's Android mobile device receives this signal right away, enabling prompt response to potential health issues.
Any changes to the patient's vital signs are in the meantime continuously uploaded to the data server for additional
analysis. By offering thorough, real-time health monitoring outside of conventional healthcare settings, this modern device
promises to greatly increase patient care.
Keywords: Health Monitoring, Medical Sensors, Remote Patient Monitoring, Wearable Body Sensors,

1. INTRODUCTION This is applicable for the case of critical care applications

Life expectancy has increased worldwide due to significant in hospitals where the care provider can access the
improvements in medicine and healthcare [1]. However, information or data at any time and does not need to be
patients’ interactions with their doctors are limited only to physically present in the patient's room to examine/review
visits and it is difficult for them to continuously monitor the results. Some hospitals do not have enough nurses to
and give recommendations accordingly. monitor a patient's vital signs however, in this study, the
IoT has an excellent capability to create high-quality results hospital does not require as many nurses to go rounds in
with the help of innovative technologies. In medicine, it monitoring the patient’s vital signs. Patients will be better
becomes a new reality in an innovative concept that monitored. This research also may be useful given that we
provides the best service [2]. IoT is undeniably are dealing with an epidemic such as COVID-19 which has
transforming the healthcare industry. Smart wearable become increasingly prevalent, has affected the entire
devices such as fitness bands, and other wireless devices world and every country is facing the challenges. This
like heart rate monitoring cuffs, blood pressure, device will also generate an alarm (mobile notification) to
glucometer, etc. give the patient access to personalized alert the physician rather than requiring the patient to
attention. inform his physician of the situation. It will help determine
More recently, the commercial availability and consumer the vital signs of the patient and will be programmed as we
adoption of wearable devices and sensors have greatly are aiming to have wearable remote patient monitoring, that
increased, with the ability to connect wirelessly for data operates automatically or functional on itself to be more
transmission and storage [3]. proficient.
The implementation of IoT is streamlining healthcare by The research attempts to address the problems in the
helping nurses attend to patients in a timely manner. In healthcare industry where hospitals are understaffed, it is
addition, IoT supplies nurses, physicians, and other inconvenient and challenging for the nurses to check
healthcare professionals with critical data that helps them patient’s vital signs on time. Moreover, due to the risk of
provide appropriate interventions, increase productivity and Covid 19, the nurses performing room-to-room assessments
improve outcomes [4]. of patients’ vital signs are vulnerable to the risk of infection
Nurses in healthcare centers such as hospitals are in charge from the patient. Through the wearable remote patient
of caring for patients, communicating with doctors, monitoring device healthcare workers can save much time
administering medicine, and checking vital signs. They by virtually monitoring the patient’s condition.
play an essential role in a patient’s healing and recovery.
However, in the Philippines, about 40% of nurses in private 2. METHODOLOGY
hospitals have resigned due to several factors and that Development of the System
includes the threat of COVID-19 and the low wages [5].
Thus, causing the overwhelmed hospitals to be
understaffed. The ideal nurse-to-patient ratio set by the
Department of Health as 1:12 seems unattainable, despite
the high number of registered nurses [6].
Given the premise stated a device is developed to allow
healthcare personnel monitors critical vital signs, which are
the Body temperature, Heart or Pulse Rate, and Oxygen
Rate of the patients in real-time, to assess health conditions
and provide feedback from distant facilities.
Figure 1. Wearable Remote Health Monitoring Device

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418 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 Sci.Int.(Lahore),35(4),417-420,2023
The use of sensors for medical purposes is a more realistic The last parameter is Oxygen Rate. This is used to count
approach and for the vital signs is very important and the patients' breaths. The
complex. In this project, a Remote patient has done [7]. The oxygen rate should be between 95% and 100% [10].
The remote health monitoring device is composed of two The data that is acquired is stored, analyzed, and visualized
sensors the oximeter oxygen rate sensor/heart rate sensor on a web server. When the measured parameters will
and body temperature sensor that are attached to the gloves exceed the
(Figure 1).

Figure 3. Process Flow of the System

Figure 2. Block Diagram
threshold limits, it will alert through a notification. Through
The transmitter and monitoring sections of wearable remote
this, it will capture the attention of the doctors.
patient monitoring are distinct. The transmitter section is
The User Interface
composed of an Arduino uno, a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B,
Wearable remote health monitoring display features the
and several sensors such as a heart rate/pulse sensor,
patient’s basic profile information such, (name, age, sex,
temperature sensor, and oxygen rate. The monitoring
and ID number). It also includes essential parameters like
section includes a PC or Laptop as well as an Android
Heart Rate, Oxygen rate, and Body Temperature with a
smartphone (mobile notification). The block diagram of the
real-time line chart showing the vital readings. See Figure 4
wearable remote patient monitoring is shown in Figure 2
below.
below. There are three sensors named temperature sensor,
heart/pulse rate sensor, and oxygen rate sensor that are
connected to the microcontroller (Arduino Uno, Raspberry
Pi 3 Model B).
As shown in the flowchart (Figure 3), this is how the device
works. It starts with scanning the patient's fingers (gloves)
and establishing a connection between Microcontroller,
Arduino Uno, and data server. The measured real-time
parameters are updated every 1.5 seconds and directly
saved to the server. It will continue to read patients' sensor
data. If data reaches its set threshold value, it displays the
alert through a notification, and the doctor will be notified
about the patient's condition on their Android mobile. The
data changes will be uploaded to the data server (Laptop).
Extraction of Data
The necessary data stored and sent to the doctor's Figure 4. Patient Monitoring Display
smartphone or PC are Body temperature, Heart or Pulse
Rate, and Oxygen Rate. These are the patient's parameters 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
measured through the gloves. The patient always wears the Data Extraction for the Patient
wearable remote patient monitoring device within the Healthcare is a field where technology and services are
hospital room, which measures their vital signs every 1.5 continually evolving. Through the development of this
seconds. wearable remote patient monitoring device, with numerous
One of the measured parameters is body temperature. The benefits in an aging world population with increasing
normal reading of a Human Body Temperature is around health concerns, it will be more convenient for the
37°C according to [8]. This temperature is quite significant healthcare providers like nurses and doctors to monitor the
when it comes to health monitoring. The LM35 Human health of the patient remotely.
Body Infrared Temperature Sensor is used. Another This device works through this process:
parameter measured is Heart or Pulse Rate. The pulse Patients will be registered by the nurses or guardians so that
sensor is interfaced with the microcontroller to give a they can easily view and update the patient's health status.
digital output of the heartbeat or pulse rate. The normal Through this, it can provide a good means of data tracking.
heartbeat ranges between 60 to 100 BPM for adults [9]. The patient must wear gloves - these are to scan the finger
of the patient. Instead of a nurse needing to manually check
Sci.Int.(Lahore),35(4),417-420,2023 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 419
The patient, the wearable remote patient monitoring will required in order to provide services of the hospital to the
read the patient body temperature, heart or pulse rate, and patient and to keep track of various services that are availed
oxygen rate of the human body in real time. Through these, by each patient.
the nurses and doctors can save valuable time to check the
patient.
The Doctor will be notified about the patient’s condition. If
the patient has an abnormal vital sign the alert will be sent
tothe doctor and nurse through mobile notifications and
through the user interface.
Each scanned vital signs are automatically saved into the
database. Through these data, the nurses and doctors may
be able to know the record of each patient. Results can be
printed as well.
The Mobile Application
The wearable remote patient monitoring also has a mobile
application that is downloadable from the PlayStore (Figure Figure 7. Patient Registration
5).
Every time the patient wears the gloves, it will directly
record in the database. The figure (Figure 8) below shows

Figure 5. Patient Monitoring Mobile Application

Mobile Notification is one of the important features of this

device. It notifies the healthcare provider of the activities of
the patient like wearing and removing the gloves (Figure
6). As well as alerts if readings reach the threshold values. Figure 8. Patient Monitoring

the information that is displayed on the monitor system of

the Doctors/Nurses. In this figure, you will see the patient's
personal information such as Patient ID, Full name, Age,
and Sex. On the left side, it shows the dashboard with the
links to the Patient’s Information, Monitoring, and
Discharge button. Once the patient wears the gloves, it will
directly read their vital signs and displayed them to the
Doctor/Nurse
monitor containing the patient's Heart Rate (bpm), Body
Temperature (°C), and Oxygen Rate (%) (Figure 8).

Figure 6. Notifications

The Web Application

As seen in the figure below (Figure 7). Patients are
registered personal information about the patients are
entered such as their names, birthday, sex, and age.
Registration is a process by which a patient's name and
identity are enrolled into the records of the hospital. This is

Figure 9. Printing of Patient Report

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420 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 Sci.Int.(Lahore),35(4),417-420,2023
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generated and printed by Nurses or Doctors (Figure 9). Technologies and Remote Monitoring in Health Care”,
America Society of Clinical Oncology Educational
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technology in communication. Lastly, since the system uses
Raspberry Pi 3 and Arduino Uno, it is recommended to
conduct a study on power optimization to ensure the remote
patient monitoring device can operate for longer periods.

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