SHB: Medium: Collaborative Research: Non-Intrusive Multi-Patient Fall-Risk Monitoring in Health Care Facilities

该项目汇集了四名研究人员，他们发现了一个机会，将他们不同的领域(步态分析、身体传感器网络、低功率射频电路和老年学)联系起来，以解决预防跌倒这一极其重要的医疗保健问题。他们的专业知识结合在一起解决了以下科学目标：(1)探索节点上信号处理和低功率射频收发器，以平衡无线体内惯性传感中的能量消耗和移动性分析保真度，(2)确定最小的体内传感器位置集，以提供高质量的移动性分析，(3)确定适当的算法，以在受控的实验室内外数据收集中识别容易摔倒的个人，以评估环境和活动的外部影响，(4)在自然的HFC生活环境中验证基于TEMPO的数据收集和处理算法。该项目使老年患者护理中的新范式能够在跌倒事件发生之前针对高危人群进行预防跌倒干预，在降低医疗成本的同时保护患者的健康和生活质量。此外，上述基本科学目标也适用于在各种应用领域中更广泛地应用节能BSN。教育和外展计划的重点是跨越技术和医疗保健之间的学科鸿沟，使用实际操作的公共演示、本科实验室模块和多学科视频会议研究生研讨会课程来吸引和培养能够应对医疗保健行业未来几十年面临的巨大挑战的领导者。

This project brings together four investigators who identified an opportunity to bridge their disparate fields (gait analysis, body sensor networks, low power RF circuits, and gerontology) in order to address an extremely important health care problem of fall prevention. Their combined expertise addresses the following scientific objectives: (1) explore on-node signal processing and low power RF transceivers to balance energy consumption and mobility analysis fidelity in wireless on-body inertial sensing, (2) identify the minimal set of on-body sensor locations to provide high-quality mobility analysis, (3) determine the appropriate algorithms to identify fall prone individuals in controlled in- and out-of-lab data collections to assess the external influences of context and activities, and (4) validate the TEMPO-based data collection and processing algorithms in a naturalistic HFC living environment.This project enables a new paradigm in elderly patient care to target fall prevention interventions to high fall risk individuals before fall incidents occur, preserving patient's health and quality of life while reducing health care costs. In addition, the above described fundamental scientific objectives apply in the broader application of energy efficient BSNs in a variety of application domains. The education and outreach plans focus on crossing the disciplinary divide between technology and health care, using hands-on public demonstrations, undergraduate laboratory modules, and multi-disciplinary videoconferencing graduate seminar courses to attract and develop leaders who can address the tremendous challenges that face the health care industry in the coming decades.