System for measuring, storing, and visualizing pressure of patients dependent on a tracheostomy tube

Abstract

Wrongful removal of tracheostomy tubes is often associated with high drama for all parties involved. With children's repository system being under-documented, there is no consensus on when these tubes should be removed for children at different ages. Measuring the pressure generated by these children can help doctors make better decisions and give the tools for helping medical researchers reach a consensus on the correct time to remove the tracheostomy tubes. This thesis presents a system for measuring, storing, and visualizing measurements of children dependent on a tracheostomy tube.

Creating a wearable \ac{iot} device integratable with tracheostomy tubes allows pressure to be sampled over longer periods of time. These continuous measurements provide new and insightful measurements to be analyzed by doctors via a website. These measurements can then permanently be stored following the \ac{gdpr} directives providing a database of measurements helping research in this area of medicine.