Smart oxygen monitoring in hospitals: a pilot study during COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract During 2020-2021, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant vulnerabilities in hospital safety, with oxygen-related fires and explosions occurring at twice the usual rate. This highlighted insufficient preparedness for increased oxygen therapy demands and the associated risks of oxygen-enriched atmospheres. This study aimed to develop and test a smart monitoring system to detect increased oxygen concentrations in hospital environments, mitigating the risk of fires. Based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the system includes wireless sensors that measure oxygen levels at regular intervals and transmit the data to a database. Alerts are sent to hospital staff via short message service and e-mail when oxygen levels exceed predefined thresholds. The sensors were deployed in an intensive care unit and were validated through real-time measurements under hospital conditions. The system demonstrated high accuracy (±1%) in monitoring oxygen concentrations with low power consumption (345 µA for oxygen concentration measurements taken every minute). Notifications reliably informed staff of oxygen level thresholds, enabling timely interventions. The proposed IoT-based smart monitoring system is a cost-effective and efficient solution for improving safety in medical environments.

Keywords

• Oxygen-related fire prevention
• Smart medical gas detection
• Internet of Things (IoT) technology
• Wireless oxygen monitoring
• Low power sensor.