Development of a non-intrusive electrocardiogram monitor floating on bathtub in nursing home

Abstract

Elderly with cardiac failure increase in nursing home. Especially, taking a bath sometimes poses a risk for subjects with chronic cardio- pulmonary disorders, due to the thermal effect and water pressure on his/her body. Therefore, we propose a new electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system with only floating on surface of hot water in bathtub to detect abnormal cardiac rhythm. The sensor unit has two electrodes, circuit for elimination of body motion artifact and signal amplification, and microprocessor with Wi-Fi module. Using the electrodes installed in the bottom of unit touching the water, the ECG signal can be obtained from the potential differences between two electrodes. The data is transfer to a cloud server through Wi-Fi and thus can be browsed using a web browser. In five healthy adults (22-years-old), the ECG signal could be successfully measured, showing the usefulness for supporting the bath in the nursing home.