Health Monitoring and Management Using Internet of Things Technology

Abstract

Elderly people are increasing as a percentage of
the population in Ecuador and all over the world. According
to population projections, Ecuador will have aged a 12% more
than the current index by 2050. Thus, the application of technology
to provide remote monitoring and healthcare services at
home would reduce the high demand that hospitals currently
experience. Under these assumptions, this paper describes the
implementation of a prototype to monitor the health status of
elderly people. The system collects data from different biological
variables of the human body such as temperature, blood oxygen
level, heart rate, body position, and even electrocardiogram
signals. This propotype also uses mobile communication (i.e.,
GSM/GPRS) to send alerts and concentrate data at a Web server.
That server might generate electronic health records in order
to assist distant doctors. The performance of the system was
analysed according to its reliability, average sampling rate at each
sensor, and message latency through the mobile network. With
this proposal, we look for a significant improvement in the quality
of life of elderly people by preventing possible emergencies that
may cause the death of patients.