DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
LANCE ROY – TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, AI ENGINEERS; FRANCIS TEKWEME – MECHANICAL ENGINEER, UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG; SOUTH AFRICA
IoT in the management of airborne infection
Lance Roy and Francis Tekweme of the University of Johannesburg reveal the results of a study into how a SCADA system and the internet of medical things (IoMT) can be used to improve the overall management of hospital infrastructure.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a host of challenges and obstacles. The increased burden on the healthcare system meant innovative methods of dealing with these challenges and managing the human resource component that was adversely diminished by the high incidence of infection among healthcare workers. Management of health infrastructure is a pivotal factor in maintaining a high uptime of hospitals and health infrastructure. The internet of things (IoT) and in particular the internet of medical things (IoMT) are becoming an industry standard for peripheral devices and other medical equipment. Supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) and IoT technology have been used to manage health infrastructure and improve the performance of health care systems. The development of a smart system, which allows for remote configuration of HVAC systems, medical gas systems and TCPs (theatre control panels) and supporting infrastructure, have provided an innovative option to risk management. The healthcare environment is driven
by a conglomerate of equipment working independently or in unison to achieve to common goal of favourable and efficient outcomes to patients. The purpose of an IoMT monitoring and control system is to achieve this purpose efficiently and synchronously.
System description Hospital infrastructure is retrofitted with sensors to measure, temperature, pressure, humidity, CO2
, air quality and other
functional parameters. Critical alarms, namely HVAC plant infrastructure, medical gases, UPS (uninterruptible power supplies), generators and critical distribution boards are some of the equipment measured using IoT-capable infrastructure. Various dashboards were created
not only to analyse the performance of infrastructure in real time but also manage critical thresholds relative to each unique situation. Examples of these include maintaining negative pressure and sterile environments in the midst of load- shedding, dealing with oxygen restrictions, managing upgrades to infrastructure to
Lance Roy
Lance Roy is the managing member and technical director of AI (Abraham Isaac) Engineers, a technology consulting
company in Durban, South Africa servicing the health care sector. He is PhD student at the University of Johannesburg completing his research in AI implementation in Operating Theatres. Lance serves on the national team of the South
African Federation of Hospital Engineers. Lance has spent the last decade responsible for the design, fabrication and project management of healthcare infrastructure in ICUs, theatres and the commercial sector. He is responsible for control systems, HVAC, gas for health and commercial systems.
Francis Tekweme
Francis Tekweme works at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg. Francis does research in mechanical engineering. His current research interest is on the modelling, simulation and input-shaped control of planar two-link flexible manipulators.
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accommodate more patients requiring isolation, stricter protocols to manage the influx of patients into and out of the hospital.
HMIs (human machine interfaces) are
setup in various units to ensure clusters of control as well as a point of interface between the system and healthcare workers. When possible, the preferred interface is visual and auditory as preference with touch interface as a last resort. The central control station usually located where activity of technical staff have the greatest activity. A key benefit of an IoMT-enabled
system is that a virtual platform allows reporting and diagnosis of performance and stats to be performed from anywhere. Mobile interface systems allow on the field technicians and technical staff to diagnose performance and faults on the field with access to global-view system information. PLCs (programmable logic controllers) integrated into the IoMT-enabled system, meanwhile, allow for management of predetermined scenarios these include fan failure, door failures, compromised sterility in CSSD (central sterile services department) equipment and theatre control systems. Integration of the fault logging database with short message services such as WhatsApp and email have proven useful in managing escalation and specifically content control during resource shortages. Customisable GUIs (graphic user interfaces) allow one to address the issue of different end-users requiring different levels of information, while technical staff may appreciate the average performance of a system, the current efficiency and the average cycle time of the autoclave. ICU staff may only be interested in
knowing that the electrical reticulation system is healthy and that the sterility and airchange ratio of the ICU and isolation wards is maintained. The value-adding proposition of smart control system is its ability to simulate the decision making and logic capabilities of an experienced hospital engineer, to achieve this we have imbedded various scenarios and the most
IFHE DIGEST 2022
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