Development of a wireless communication prototype based on e-textile concept for application in healthcare monitoring of patients subject to sacral pressure injuries

Purpose The development of a system for monitoring the early stages of pressure injuries in the sacral body region in hospitalized patients to aid in medical decision-making is discussed in this work, with a focus on the use of e-textile concept technologies, IoHT and WBAN. The main aim is to offer to the medical team remote real-time monitoring of the evolutionary state of the parameters that influence the development of pressure injuries. Methods The initial methodological procedure for the development of the system was the selection of a textile material with a self-breathing characteristic to be used as a sensor installation structure and, based on the variables of interest for monitoring (temperature and compression time in the sacral region in a volunteer), sensors were selected to incorporate the monitoring and data management device. Results The applicability of the medical monitoring prototype was tested experimentally with regard to monitoring the temperature and compression time in the patient’s sacral region. The test was carried out with a volunteer wearing a belt (prototype) adjustable for a predefined period and the data could be monitored remotely on an authorized mobile device, making it possible to export the data to an e-mail account, allowing future study of the evolution of monitored variables. Conclusion The device proved to be applicable in the development of technologies to aid medical decision-making using remote and real-time monitoring of factors that influence the development of pressure injuries, also offering immediate alerting to the medical team the need for immediate patient verification.