“A cost-effective and open source system to data log health measurements in Google sheets and allows the doctor to monitor them from anywhere
Coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19, is an infectious disease which spreads between humans. The incubation period of coronavirus is on average 5 - 6 days, but it could also be up to 14 days. During this incubation period, before the person begins experiencing symptoms, the person could be contagious. The virus would spread to the people with whom the infected person is interacting, and this is dangerous. The presence of coronavirus in a human’s body could be tested by carrying out PCR tests. The demand for PCR tests is increasing, but the tests cannot be carried everywhere.
Fever is a common symptom of coronavirus disease. Studies have shown that this disease could also accelerate heart rate. In my project, the body temperature and heart rate will be measured and data logged in google sheets with the help of pushingbox online service. The spreadsheet can then be shared with your doctor.
Actually, I planned to do this project with GY-906 MLX90614ESF Infrared Temperature (Non-contact) Sensor Module and MAX30100/02 High sensitivity Pulse Oximeter to get more accurate and reliable results, but I could not go out due to the lockdown in my country. I tried to order them online, but the shipment is pending at the moment, so I decided to use the components I had at home. I would recommend you to use those two sensors instead of the DS18B20 temperature sensor module and heartbeat sensor module.
Aim/ Objective of this project
The aim of this project is to take remote health measurements and share them with the doctor so that he/ she can monitor them from anywhere at anytime. This system could also be used in particular areas or remote villages where people could log their health measurements. If anyone’s health measurement is abnormal - out of range or higher than a critical value - the doctor could notify the health care workers in the particular area to carry out PCR tests for the particular cluster or the people living there.
This system is cheap and easy to build. It is also an open source remote monitoring system and would help many medical personnels and people worldwide.
How does this work?
This system could be made into a medical device and used to record the health measurements of the people living in remote areas or villages. The people in a particular area will record their health measurements. The date and time will also be recorded. Before taking their health measurements, however, the person must practice hand hygiene - wash hands for at least 20 seconds. A touchless faucet (https://www.hackster.io/RUCKSIKAA/automatic-faucet-touchless-using-arduino-for-covid-19-369b18) could be used for this purpose. A medical personnel could be present in the place of testing to guide the people.
After the person washes his/ her hands, the health care worker will press the push-button allocated for the body temperature measurements. The non-contact temperature sensor module will be used to take body temperature measurements of the person. After the measurement is taken, press the push-button again to record it. If the temperature is above 37°C, the person will be immediately sent for PCR testing.
If the temperature is not above the critical value (37°C), he/ she can proceed to measure the heart rate. Before measuring the heart rate, the second push-button must be pressed. Measuring heart rate would require the person to place his/ her finger on the sensor as the measurements are taken by reflective method. The person’s hand must be clean as the sensor module will be shared among others as well. This is the reason why the person must practice hand hygiene - the virus could spread to the next person who uses the sensor if this person’s hands are contaminated. If the heartbeat is detected, the normal LED will light up. While the heart rate measurements are being taken, the two-colour LED module will be green in colour. The LED will turn red while the body temperature is recorded. As I have already mentioned, the push-button should be pressed again to record the measurements.
After the health measurements are taken, the health care worker can hover his/ her finger over the IR tracking sensor. This will make a request to the Pushingbox API which converts the HTTP transmitted data into Google compliant HTTPS encrypted data. The measurements will be logged in the Google sheets. If the temperature exceeds 37°C, the cell will turn red - due to conditional formatting. This will also happen if the heart rate is above the average heart rate. If the person has heart conditions, his/ her heart rate will be compared to previous measurements. This practice will make it easier for the doctor to detect COVID-19 patients in remote areas or villages.
This remote monitoring system could also be used at homes where elderly people can take their health measurements by themselves and share the spreadsheet with their doctor. By following this practice, the people do not have to travel to the hospitals or go out to take their health measurements.”