Sunday, September 19, 2010

ScanBed

Now I'm imagining a medical bed, for hospitals, that has a multitude of sensors. Thermocouples embedded in the bed notice the heat output, and hence, body temperature, of the patient. (Calculated with some complex math and physics.) Motion sensors notice the turning of the patient, and suggest moving them when this grows insufficient to prevent bedsores. Ideally, I would even like it to find a way to determine pulse rate and breathing.
All of this is logged to a small computer at the bottom, for extraction and analysis by a doctor. (Or even medical computer. The doctor should be able to retrieve a well-laid-out chart rather than seeing a table of raw numbers.) Also, alarms if certain conditions occur, like a body temperature above or below a certain point, pulse above or below a certain point. High body temperature would suggest fever, or perhaps foreign object resulting in fire danger. Low body temperature suggests hypothermia. (Or death, but I think one of the other sensors would have noticed first.) High pulse suggests distress, or imminent heart failure, whereas low pulse suggests imminent brain damage.

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