Prototyping a cardiac arrest telemonitoring system

Cardiac arrests are a highly prevalent heart condition with a low survival rate due to the sudden nature of incidents. However, studies have shown that there are recognizable antecedents that can aid in early recognition, intervention, and prevention of these attacks. These can be detected by monitoring vital signs such as cardiac rhythm, arterial pulsations (heartbeats), heart rate or heart sounds. By regular and consistent monitoring of these vital signs, early help can be rendered. Therefore, this paper discusses the implementation and evaluation of a cardiac arrest telemonitoring system, based on M2M middleware, which can continuously monitor a patient's heart rate and alert stakeholders (patient, caregiver, and physician) in the event of abnormal readings. The paper also makes an assessment of the delay in the delivery of these alert messages to show the contribution of such a system towards reducing the overall time of the chain of survival.