Recently, wireless medical telemeters have been widely introduced into hospitals due to their usefulness (80.9% of hospitals in Japan in 2020). However, in many hospitals, we are facing defective signal reception. We assume that it is due not only to the rapid increase of wireless medical telemeters installed in hospitals, but also to the changes in the electromagnetic environment in hospitals owing to the recent barrier-free and environment-conscious design. In this study, we focused on the electromagnetic field emitted from wireless medical telemeters. As a case study, we simulated the electromagnetic field using the time-domain difference method (FDTD) and compared with the electromagnetic field that was measured in our hospital. The simulation study demonstrated that the attenuation level of the electric field emitted from a wireless medical telemeter did not show any significant difference between the horizontal and vertical directions. The actual measurement also showed a similar trend with some differences due maybe to the effects of patients and beds that were not taken into account in the simulation. Based on these results, we proposed a novel management method for the wireless medical telemeter channels, in which two floors are regarded as a single unit. The noise level of the channels from neighboring zones causing passive intermodulation is suggested to be reduced by about 20 dB.

Currently, about 340,000 people in Japan are receiving hemodialysis, a treatment that draws blood from a patient’s vein, purifies it in a hemodialysis circuit, and returns the blood to the artery. It is necessary to have a plan in place for emergency evacuation of dialysis patients and personnel after disconnecting the blood circuit from the patient and interrupting the treatment. It takes 30 minutes to evacuate, and 40 minutes to complete the evacuation. To shorten this time, six immature people also need to participate in the evacuation work. A proper manual is needed to enable unskilled persons to safely and quickly with draw from the work area. We have developed a prototype manual (Augmented Reality (AR) Hands-Free (HF) manual) that contains operation information using AR and operation function using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based voice recognition to the actual image on the Smart Glass (SG). The AR HF manual and conventional paper manual were compared in terms of the time required and the accuracy. It was 22/154, the AR HF manual was 3/140, and the withdrawal time was reduced to less than 20 minutes with the use of the AR HF manual.

Respiratory diseases include restrictive diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, obstructive diseases such as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and mixed diseases.All of which are serious and require early diagnosis. Lung function tests for respiratory diseases are performed using Spirometry and X-ray CT in the Hospital. We have been studying to construct a non-invasive and simple pulmonary function diagnosis system. In this paper we report on a method of measuring ventilation volume using a three axis acceleration sensor and a three dimension depth sensor.

To evaluate the effect of the ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system on controlling microorganisms on the surface of medical devices, it is essential to measure the intensity of UV radiation intensity. However, a sensor that can easily measure it has not yet been developed. Thus, we developed a new sensor that can measure the UVC radiation dose, and conducted a study to clarify the detailed UV dose and effective microbial inactivation conditions by the UVC irradiation device that have been practically used. A UV irradiation sensor consisted of a zinc oxide photoconductive element and multi-logger acquisition software was developed in collaboration with a company. The UV irradiation sensors were installed at several locations in the model hospital room including frequently touched areas, environmental surfaces and blind spots. The UVC radiation intensity was measured simultaneously and continuously at multiple locations. Radiation intensity varied with distance and height even in the effective radiation range of the device, and attenuation was significant in blind spots such as upward direction and shadows. Our results indicated that the effectiveness of UV radiation varies depending on the radiation location.