Detecting Falls Among Elderly Patients in Nursing Homes by Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Accidental falls among the senior population are the leading cause for seniors' admission to hospitals.Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) can be used to efficiently detect falls of senior patients in nursing homes.While some fall detection methods focus on the acceleration of the patient, others register acceleration and body position to detect falls.In this paper, we describe a novel alert system using WSN capable of detecting falls based on the body position and bed occupancy.The system was created according to data collected in MoteView from seven test subjects.Accordingly, it was designed to sense three possible conditions: (1) patient being active; (2) patient lying in bed; or (3) if the patient has fallen down.The experimental portion of this research was performed at a nursing facility to further validate measurements previously collected in the laboratory.Furthermore, the system has been tested on three subjects for different types of falls and was found to detect all types of falls with high accuracy.In order to provide caregivers with constant alerts regarding patients' conditions a graphic user interface was created in LabView.Design of this system maximizes the capabilities of Memsic's Wireless Sensor Network Developmental Kit consisting of MICAz and MIB520 base station.Overall, the system provides a very simple and effective solution that yields high accuracy for detecting falls.