A Review on Equipped Hospital Beds with Wireless Sensor Networks for Reducing Bedsores
Abstract
Lida Khaleghi
At present, the solutions to prevent bed sore include using various techniques for movement and displacement of patients which is not possible for some patients or dangerous for some of them while it also makes problems for healthcare providers. On the other hand, development of information technology in health system including application of wireless sensor networks (WSN), has led to easy and quick service providing. It can provide a solution to prevent bed sore in motionless and disabled patients. Hence, the aim of this article was first; to introduce Wireless Sensor Networks in hospital beds and, second, to identify the benefits and challenges of implementing this technology. This study was a non-systematic review. The literature was searched for Wireless Sensor Networks to reduce and prevent bed sores with the help of libraries, databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, and EMBASE), and also searches engines available at Google scholar including during 1974-2014 while inclusion criterion was applied in English and Persian. In our searches, we employed the following keywords and their combinations: “wireless sensor network”, “smart bed”, “information technology”, “Smart mattress”, “bed sore” in the searching areas of titles, keywords, abstracts, and full texts. In this study, more than 45 articles and reports were collected and 37 of them were selected based on their relevancy. Therefore, identification and implementation of this technology will be a step toward mechanization of traditional procedures in providing care for hospitalized patients and disabled people. The Smart bed and mattress, either alone or in combination with the other technology, should be capable of providing all of novel features while still providing the comfort and safety features usually associated with traditional and hospital mattresses.