A remote electronic monitoring system for the prevention of pressure sores

A bed-side system has been developed to non-intrusively monitor the lying position of a patient. It automatically raises an alarm at a nursing station if the patient has not changed his/her position within a specified time. The system has been designed to reduce the incidence of pressure sores in elderly and infirm patients who may be bed-bound and unable to reposition themselves regularly. By continuously monitoring the position of the patient, the time available to nurses is optimised by focusing attention on patients who need it the most. The system can be computerised to facilitate monitoring of nurse response times and efficiency as well as collecting historical data on patients' preferred lying positions.