Preventing falls using posture and movement detection

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems are described for associating remote physiological monitoring with an at-risk falling condition of a patient. The methods may include receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors. The methods may also include determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data, and determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level. Once it is determined that the at-risk condition is satisfied, the methods may also include issuing an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied.

1 . A method of issuing an alert, comprising:
 receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;   determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;   determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a movement threshold for a predetermined period of time; and   issuing an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving movement data comprises:
 receiving orientation, position, velocity, posture, or acceleration data from the one or more sensors.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 operating a posture timer to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and   issuing the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 re-initializing the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 setting the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 operating an activity timer to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and   issuing the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 re-initializing the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 setting the predetermined activity timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting the issued alert to a monitoring station.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient activity level comprises:
 correlating the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU).   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.   
     
     
         12 . A remote patient monitoring device, comprising:
 a transceiver configured to receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors; and   a processor configured to:
 determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data; 
 determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a movement threshold for a predetermined period of time; and 
 issue an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied. 
   
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 a posture timer configured to:
 operate to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and 
 issue the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold. 
   
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 re-initialize the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.   
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 set the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.   
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 an activity timer configured to:
 operate to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and 
 issue the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold. 
   
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 re-initialize the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.   
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 set the predetermined activity timer duration based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.   
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 correlate the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU); and   determine that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the code executable by a processor to:
 receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;   determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;   determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a movement threshold for a predetermined period of time; and   issue an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied.