Preventing falls using posture and movement detection
Methods, apparatuses and systems are described for associating remote physiological monitoring with an at-risk falling condition of a patient. The methods may include receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors. The methods may also include determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data, and determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level. Once it is determined that the at-risk condition is satisfied, the methods may also include issuing an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied.
1. A method of issuing an alert, comprising:
receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;
determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;
determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;
operating a timer to measure the period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity level satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and
issuing an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving movement data comprises:
receiving orientation, position, velocity, posture, or acceleration data from the one or more sensors.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timer comprises a posture timer, the method further comprising:
operating the posture timer to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and
issuing the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
re-initializing the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
setting the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timer comprises an activity timer, the method further comprising:
operating the activity timer to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and
issuing the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
re-initializing the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.
8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
setting the predetermined activity timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the issued alert to a monitoring station.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient activity level comprises:
correlating the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU).
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.
12. A remote patient monitoring device, comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors; and
a processor configured to:
determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;
determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;
operate a timer to measure a period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity level satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and
issue an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.
13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the timer comprises a posture timer,
the posture timer configured to:
operate to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and
issue the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold.
14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
re-initialize the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.
15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
set the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.
16. The device of claim 12 , wherein the timer comprises an activity timer,
the activity timer configured to:
operate to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and
issue the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold.
17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
re-initialize the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.
18. The device of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
set the predetermined activity timer duration based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.
19. The device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
correlate the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU); and
determine that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the code executable by a processor to:
receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;
determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;
determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;
operate a timer to measure a period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and
issue an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.