Wireless monitoring system via ZigBee in ICUs

In modern ICU (Intensive Care Unit), many operations on patients are hampered by the attached monitoring and treatment equipments, which obstructs nursing staff and hinders the patients from moving freely. Fortunately, wireless transfusion controlling and monitoring network not only aids physicians and nurses in providing convenient treatments and comforts to the patient but also regulates the model of therapy based on the physiologic parameters. The paper presents a wireless monitoring system via ZigBee, including sensor and radio frequency miniature modules, wireless BSNs, wireless transfusion devices, base stations, and centre server. An experiment that the patients were monitored (including ECG-II, pulse wave, SpO2 and respiration) and transfused continuously in 24 hours, demonstrates that the system is characterized as wireless, miniature, highly reliable, anti-jamming, low power consuming and intelligent. The advantages of the approaches utilized in our work - ZigBee wireless communication technology - break the traditional monitoring and transfusion pattern in ICU thus the quality and efficiency of medical treatment are improved.