An agent-based RFID monitoring system for healthcare

Abstract

In the last years, with the progressive expansion of Healthcare Information Systems (HISs), the healthcare platforms for interoperability and monitoring systems have become increasingly more vital sources of clinical information. In this context, in Centro Hospitalar do Porto (CHP), the INTCare system was developed with the purpose to create new useful knowledge for deci sion support in real-time. It is an unquestionable potential area to develop effective systems for the prediction of clinical events, including Decision Support Systems (DSSs), for organ failure and death in Intensive Care. The INTCare uses multiple data sources that are collected at the bedside. However, this system fails on the recognition of the patient absence in bed. Thereby, this problem led to the devel opment of the Patient Localization and Management System (PaLMS), i.e., a RFID localization and monitoring system. Thus, this paper describes the PaLMS Intelligent Multi-Agent System for the integration of PaLMS into the hospital platform for Interoperability, Diffusion and Archive – Agency for Integration, Diffusion and Archive of Medical Information (AIDA) platform. On the other hand, a failure prevention system that actuates in the PaLMS agents, improving their availability, is also presented and thoroughly discussed.