Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Engineering, Biomedical, Medical Informatics, Engineering, Incontinence, Nursing Home, Ambient Monitoring, Exploratory Study, URINARY-INCONTINENCE, CARE COORDINATION, COSTS, INTELLIGENCE, STG/18/071#55077521

Abstract:

Time consuming and costly, continence care management has become one of the main care demands in nursing homes with potential inadequacy negatively impacting residents’ quality of life. While engineering efforts in this area are increasing, these mainly focus on wearable innovations. To support continence care in nursing homes in an unobtrusive manner, we developed an ambient sensor system to continuously monitor incontinence events, e.g., saturated incontinence materials or leakages. In an exploratory study in two nursing homes, we evaluated an early prototype of the sensor system and built annotated data sets. Implemented annotation devices included a smart sensor mat, a toilet timing predicting device, and manual data entry of continence care by care personnel. From our analysis of the preliminary study results based on the first two residents, we learned how challenging the ambient monitoring and annotation of incontinence events is. On the basis of the outcomes, we provide suggestions for further research of ambient sensor systems supporting continence care.