Development of a Sensor to Measure Physician Consultation Times

Abstract

The duration of patient–physician contact is an important factor for the optimisation of treatment processes in healthcare systems. Available methods can be labour-intensive and the quality is, in many cases, poor. A part of this research project is to develop a sensor system, which allows the detection of people passing through a door, including the direction. For this purpose, two time of flight sensors are combined with a door sensor and a motion detection sensor (for redundancy) on one single side of the door frame. The period between two single measurements could be reduced to 50 ms, which allows the measurement of walking speed up to 2 ms − 1 . The accuracy of the time stamp for each event is less than one second and ensures a precise documentation of the consultation time. This paper presents the development of the sensor system, the miniaturisation of the installation and first measurement results, as well as the measurement’s concept of quality analysis, including multiple door applications. In future steps, the sensor system will be deployed at different medical practices to determine the exact duration of the patient–physician interaction over a longer time period.

Smart Sensors for Healthcare and Medical Applications

“…The development of a system based on multiple sensors (i.e., a magnetic door sensor, a motion detection sensor, and two time of flight sensors) to estimate the duration of patient-physician contact (consultation time) is the focus of [ 26 ]. The knowledge of this parameter may help in the optimization of the treatment processes and on the healthcare service.…”

Smart Sensors for Healthcare and Medical Applications

“…The development of a system based on multiple sensors (i.e., a magnetic door sensor, a motion detection sensor, and two time of flight sensors) to estimate the duration of patientphysician contact (consultation time) is the focus of [26]. The knowledge of this parameter may help in the optimization of the treatment processes and on the healthcare service.…”