A zigbee-based continuous online vital sign monitoring system

Conventional method carried out by health professionals in measuring vital signs are conducted in every four hours interval in most hospitals in Malaysia. Amongst the wireless technology known to be deployed are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Zigbee technology. They fit the purpose of healthcare application in terms of two ways communication, patient's safety, higher number of nodes and etc. However, the current tag is seen to have setbacks in terms of inefficiency and inaccuracy of data transfer. Zigbee Network on the other hand is able to fulfill the stated criteria with an addition of larger number of nodes and stability during data transmission which is an added advantage to the application. This research is discussing on the development of two different real-time continuous wireless vital sign device which are heart rate and temperature monitoring to be used in hospitals as a medium of patient data transfer and data gathering. Readings obtained were benchmarked with the conventional handheld heart beat reader and a thermometer to fulfill the accuracy and stability criteria. Continuum of the study was multiple tests conducted to ensure stability, transmission range capability and reliability of device for various age groups and gender. Results obtained were impressive and comparable to the miniaturization of device for further testing in the hospital. © 2006-2015 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN).