An Automatic Critical Care Urine Meter

Sensors

Abraham Otero²  Roemi Fernández¹  Andrey Apalkov¹ 

[1] Centre for Automation and Robotics, CSIC-UPM, Ctra. Campo Real, Km. 0,200, La Poveda, Arganda del Rey, 28500 Madrid, Spain; E-Mails:;Department of Information and Communications Systems Engineering, University San Pablo CEU, Boadilla del Monte, 28668 Madrid, Spain

关键词: biosensors;    urine output;    critical care;    capacitive sensors;    patient monitoring;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s121013109

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Nowadays patients admitted to critical care units have most of their physiological parameters measured automatically by sophisticated commercial monitoring devices. More often than not, these devices supervise whether the values of the parameters they measure lie within a pre-established range, and issue warning of deviations from this range by triggering alarms. The automation of measuring and supervising tasks not only discharges the healthcare staff of a considerable workload but also avoids human errors in these repetitive and monotonous tasks. Arguably, the most relevant physiological parameter that is still measured and supervised manually by critical care unit staff is urine output (UO). In this paper we present a patent-pending device that provides continuous and accurate measurements of patient's UO. The device uses capacitive sensors to take continuous measurements of the height of the column of liquid accumulated in two chambers that make up a plastic container. The first chamber, where the urine inputs, has a small volume. Once it has been filled it overflows into a second bigger chamber. The first chamber provides accurate UO measures of patients whose UO has to be closely supervised, while the second one avoids the need for frequent interventions by the nursing staff to empty the container.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.