Smart Hospital Room for
Individuals with Limited Mobility
Kimberly E. Newman
ORISE Fellow
Functional Performance and Device Use Laboratory
Food and Drug Administration
Acknowledgement
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CAPT Karen Siegel (Lab Leader, Functional Performance
and Device Use, FDA)
Dr. Michael Blei (Chief of Rehabilitation, Denver Health
Medical Center)
Frank Agyei-Ntim and Tonia Osadebe (alumni, University of
Denver)
Elisa Hobbs (Discovery Learning Apprentice, CU Boulder)
Goal
Remove barriers to communication and
control of a standard hospital room for
individuals with limited mobility using
off-the-shelf devices
Outline
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Problem Statement
Regulatory Background
Proposed Solution
Preliminary Results
Next Steps
Problem Statement
• Individuals with upper extremity limitation are unable to
operate the standard hospital room interface.
• Specific health conditions where this system would be
beneficial:
• Polytrauma
• Parkinson’s disease
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
• cervical spinal cord injury
Americans with Disabilities Act
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Medical care facilities. Medical care facilities that are
subject to this section shall comply with the provisions of
the 2010 Standards applicable to medical care facilities,
including, but not limited to, sections 223 and 805.
In addition, medical care facilities that do not specialize
in the treatment of conditions that affect mobility shall
disperse the accessible patient bedrooms required by
section 223.2.1 of the 2010 Standards in a manner that
is proportionate by type of medical specialty.
http://www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm
Accessible Design
• Chapter 4 of the ADA covers how compliance
requirements in medical facilities can be implemented.
• An equivalent requirement is found in the description of
elevator controls in section 407.
New ADAAG
407.2.1 Call Controls. Where elevator
call buttons or keypads are provided,
they shall comply with 407.2.1 and
309.4. Call buttons shall be raised or
flush.
DOJ Standards for
Accessible Design
International Building Code
4.27.4 Operation. Controls and
operating mechanisms shall be operable
with one hand and shall not require
tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of
the wrist. The force required to activate
controls shall be no greater than 5 lbf
(22.2 N).
ANSI 407.2.1 Call Controls. Where
elevator call buttons or keypads are
provided, they shall comply with
Sections 407.2.1 and 309.4. Call
buttons shall be raised or flush. Objects
beneath hall call buttons shall protrude
1 inch (25 mm) maximum.
Assistive Technology
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There are several specialized options available for user
interfaces and smart rooms on the Abledata website
[www.abledata.com]
One issue with these solutions is they are not widely sold so
are very expensive for adoption.
Off-the-shelf solutions are an option to reduce the cost for
implementation.
Domain of Interest
Proposed Solution
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Replace the pushbutton interface with a tablet
computer platform.
Implement alternative user interfaces to select
devices in room and communicate with care
providers.
Provides access for individuals with upper
extremity limitations.
Test Case with Off-the-Shelf Remote Room
Interface
IR
Individual Hospital Room
Nursing station
Internet based
Messaging
software
Current Progress
• Purchased components for
evaluation and initial test
case.
• Testing room control
interface to TV and fan.
• Evaluating bluetooth for light
control.
• Configuring programming
platform for facial detection.
Next Steps for System Development
• Quantify threshold for remote control link to maintain
connectivity with TV and fan.
• Develop customized button control for A2DP interface
to bluetooth power cord.
• Incorporate the ability to press buttons on the smart
phone/tablet using a camera controlled mouse
interface.
• Develop customized communication system with
nursing station.
Long Term Plans
•Perform pilot evaluation with healthy individuals for
preliminary evaluation of solution.
•Update user interface based on feedback.
•Evaluate system in a hospital environment by individuals
with limited mobility.
Summary
• Described gap in access for individuals with limited
mobility.
• Listed relevant components of the American with
Disabilities Act
• Discussed an approach using off-the-shelf computing
platforms to address the problem.
• Showed preliminary results and plans for future
development.
Questions?
thank you for your attention