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Adding the Human Element: Experience with a Wireless Patient Monitoring System

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Wireless Sensor Networks

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Abstract

This chapter describes how the design and deployment of a wireless sensor network for patient monitoring was affected by human factors. The wireless sensor network was deployed and studied in the waiting area of an emergency department at an urban academic hospital in the United States. The broader application of this work is in the area of disaster management. The challenges were in the integration of this new technology into a pre-existing environment for caring for patients with minimal disruption. These challenges included operation restrictions mandated by the hospital’s Institutional Review Board, choice of an appropriate localization subsystem, limited power, concerns about fire hazards, theft, and hospital security during the eighteen-month deployment. Issues such as user acceptance, patient mobility and expectations of multiple stake holders are also discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Dorothy Curtis

Authors
  1. Dorothy Curtis
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  2. Esteban Pino
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  3. Thomas Stair
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  4. Lucila Ohno-Machado
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dorothy Curtis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Engineering & Computing, Cogent Computing Applied Research Centre, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom

    Elena Gaura

  2. Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and, S16-06-10, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117543, Singapore

    Michael Allen

  3. Computer Science &, Artificial Intelligence Lab. (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vassar St. 32, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Lewis Girod

  4. Fac. Engineering & Computing, Cogent Computing Applied Research Centre, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom

    James Brusey

  5. , School of Engineering and Applied Scienc, Harvard University, Oxford St 33, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Geoffrey Challen

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Curtis, D., Pino, E., Stair, T., Ohno-Machado, L. (2010). Adding the Human Element: Experience with a Wireless Patient Monitoring System. In: Gaura, E., Allen, M., Girod, L., Brusey, J., Challen, G. (eds) Wireless Sensor Networks. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5834-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5834-1_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5833-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5834-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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