Development of a Peak Flow Meter to Remotely Monitor Asthmatic Patients in Emergency Cases

Abstract

There have been peak flow meter systems for monitoring asthma patients, however, there is a need to remotely carry out this monitoring to help the patients in case of emergency. This paper presents a mobile health device for tracking asthmatic patient locations during emergencies.  The system design consists of nodeMCU microcontroller, MPX5010DP pressure sensor, and a power pack system. The system makes use of the following technologies; Wi-Fi, GPS, Google Maps, and SMS for communication of signals and messages between the user’s device and devices of other components of the system.  The system allows the involvement of the patient’s next of kin and emergency personnel in the monitoring and tracking of asthmatic patients during emergencies. The C programming language was used to write code for the microcontroller, while the mobile application of the system was done using the Dart programming language. The expiratory flow rate value was used to measure the performance of the system.  A prototype of the system was successfully developed, and tested. The system works as expected, with each component responding well to signals received. This system can be used to monitor asthmatic patients, especially during health emergency conditions.