IIT Kharagpur Develops Smarter Ambulatory Healthcare Monitoring

AmbuSens, technology developed in the SWAN lab of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT- Kharagpur, is capable of wireless monitoring of various physiological parameters like ECG, heart-rate, temperature and blood-pressure, utilizing a unique mechanism to preserve patients’ data confidentiality while simultaneously using the analytic and computing power of cloud computing. It can be fitted in an ambulance to ensure remote monitoring of patient condition by the doctors even before they reach the hospitals.

AmbuSens, smarter ambulatory healthcare monitoring system is a framework to bring about the next step in healthcare:

• IIT Kharagpur has utilized its expertise in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) to create a connected framework that enables patients, doctors and paramedics to have instant access to real-time medical data though the use of any internet connected devices capable of running a web browser, including smart phones and tablets.
• AmbuSens framework utilizes the cutting edge in Wireless Medical Sensing as well as IT infrastructure, to create an interface that allows users to have instant anytime, anywhere access to real-time medical data.
• AmbuSens framework enables wireless connectivity to state-of-the-art medical sensors, secure privacy-aware cloud-based data storage as well as cloud based analytics.
• Digitized and standardized medical recordkeeping across a wide network of client hospitals for easy transfer of critical medical information between source and destination hospitals.
• Real-time monitoring of patient in transit in ambulance which is instantly accessible by the concerned doctors at both ends.
• Wireless sensors for ease of use and flexibility when used in conjunction with critical life support equipment which are often large and unwieldy

This technology is several notches ahead of tele-medicine where the doctor can see the patients but do not have wireless real time monitoring of their health condition. AmbuSens, the life-saver technology fitted in an ambulance to ensure remote monitoring of the condition of a patient by the doctors even before they reach the hospital will be a boon for the referral patients who are transported from a hospital in remote area to a specialized clinic/hospital in the city. The referred hospital, the referee hospital as well as the ambulance will all have laptops or tablets with internet connection. The patient will be fitted with wireless body sensors, which will aid doctors of both referred and referee hospitals to continuously monitor real-time the health condition of the ambulance-borne patients. This will enable the destination hospital being well-equipped to deal with emergency in-bound patients and save life. IIT-Kharagpur has already conducted successful field trials of the developed system at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.