Finding Lost and Mentally Impaired Patients Through Smart Devices and Algorithms

通过智能设备和算法寻找迷路和精神障碍患者

• 批准号: 521638-2017
• 负责人: Ferworn, Alexander
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Ryerson University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=640118
• 关键词: Finding; Lost; Mentally; Impaired; Patients

As Canada's population ages its population becomes more vulnerable to cognitive impairment caused byvarious forms of dementia where wandering, becoming lost and communications with other becomeschallenging. As the impairment becomes more acute, citizens become patients within extended care facilities(ECF). A growing problem is how to determine the physical location of patients who have eloped from theimmediate grounds of an ECF. While steps are taken to provide secure facilities, mistakes dohappen--potentially leading to the injury or death of the patient. Mobile technologies such as smartphones andsmartwatches are ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive. These technologies may serve as effective solutions tomonitor patient whereabouts without undue intrusion.We propose an end-to-end system framework to monitor and log the physical location of patients using sensorsin mobile devices. To our knowledge, this framework is unique, as it will provide a live feed of the currentlocation of lost patients to authorized caregivers. The proposed system consists of mobile applications thatroutinely provide telemetry to a server where the information will be stored and analyzed. Furthermore, thesystem will alert responsible personnel should a patient being monitored go outside of the specified "safe area".This technology is directly applicable to care facilities where constant monitoring is not possible due to limitedresources. We envision this technology will allow certain cognitively impaired individuals to remain at homelonger while reducing the stress of family caregiver concerned about their whereabouts. By using this system,the economic cost and emotional stress caused by wandering behavior will be reduced. LocateMotion will seekto bring to market the innovative end-to-end technology to be developed in this proposal--bringing "peace ofmind" to participating care givers.

随着加拿大人口的老龄化，其人口变得更容易受到各种形式的痴呆症引起的认知障碍的影响，这些痴呆症使他们流浪、迷路以及与其他人的沟通变得困难。随着损害变得更加严重，公民成为扩展护理设施（ECF）内的患者。一个日益严重的问题是如何确定从ECF的直接理由私奔的患者的物理位置。虽然采取措施提供安全设施，但错误确实发生-可能导致患者受伤或死亡。智能手机和智能手表等移动的技术无处不在，而且相对便宜。这些技术可以作为有效的解决方案来监控病人的行踪，而不会造成不必要的侵扰。我们提出了一个端到端的系统框架，使用移动的设备中的传感器来监控和记录病人的物理位置。据我们所知，这个框架是独一无二的，因为它将向授权的护理人员提供失踪患者当前位置的实时信息。拟议的系统包括移动的应用程序，这些应用程序定期向服务器提供遥测数据，并在服务器上存储和分析信息。此外，如果被监测的病人离开指定的“安全区域”，该系统将提醒负责人员。该技术直接适用于由于资源有限而无法持续监测的护理机构。我们设想这项技术将允许某些认知受损的人留在家里，同时减少家庭照顾者担心他们的下落的压力。通过使用该系统，将减少流浪行为造成的经济成本和情绪压力。LocateMotion将寻求将本提案中开发的创新端到端技术推向市场-为参与护理人员带来“安心”。