ViseKat – Vital Sensor Patch for Disaster Response

When large numbers of injured people need medical care simultaneously, time becomes the decisive factor between life and death. The ViseKat project is currently developing an innovative wireless sensor system that enables continuous monitoring of vital parameters, significantly improving medical prioritization in emergency and disaster situations.

The challenge

A mass casualty incident (MCI) is defined as a situation in which more than ten patients require medical care at the same time – for example after extreme weather events, major traffic accidents, building fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or military incidents.

In such exceptional situations, existing prioritization systems quickly reach their limits:

• Vital signs are usually recorded only once in a standardized manner
• Continuous monitoring is hardly possible due to limited personnel and equipment
• Deterioration of a patient’s condition is often detected too late
• Resources cannot be deployed optimally

The result is suboptimal care and an increased risk to patients’ lives.

At the same time, we can expected MCI scenarios to become more frequent worldwide due to climate change and an increasingly unstable global security situation.

Within the ViseKat project, a low-cost wireless sensor system is being developed in the form of two sensor patches that can be quickly and easily applied to a patient’s chest and forehead. These vital sensor patches continuously measure respiration, heart rate, pulse wave transit time for blood pressure estimation, and oxygen saturation.

The collected data is transmitted wirelessly – simultaneously from multiple patients – and made available to a central command unit in real time.

An accompanying software solution supports emergency responders by providing:

• An overview of all patients
• Detection of critical changes in vital status
• Support for prioritizing treatment measures

ViseKat makes a significant contribution to optimizing disaster management and increasing patient safety during MCI operations.

For patients

• Early detection of life-threatening changes in condition
• Continuous monitoring instead of single-point measurements
• Improved safety and quality of care in disaster situations

For emergency responders

• Significant relief under high workload conditions
• Objective decision-making support instead of isolated observations
• Assistance for dynamic, situation-adapted medical prioritization

For incident command units

• Real-time overview of the condition of many patients simultaneously
• Improved prioritization of treatment measures
• More efficient management of scarce resources
  

Beyond Disaster Response

In the long run, the application potential of ViseKat extends beyond MCI scenarios, including:

• Telemedical patient monitoring
• Defense and civil protection
• Temporary monitoring in exceptional situations
• Occupational health and safety