In-bed patient motion and pose analysis using depth videos for pressure ulcer prevention

We present a real-time depth based computer vision system for pressure ulcer prevention, in-bed patient care and monitoring. Our system can effectively determine whether or not a mobility-compromised patient has been correctly repo-sitioned at the required frequency. A depth sensor is used to detect and recognize patient movements, motion patterns, and pose positions. If the patient has stayed in an unchanged pose for too long and needs pressure releasing movements, our system can notify caregivers for repositioning or assistance. Privacy concerns are mitigated by removing the RGB components of the video stream from the camera capturing, and only processing depth measurements. We collaborated with clinical practitioners at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center for in-field data collection and experimental evaluation. A web portal front-end is developed such that all historical patient movements, pose positions, and repositioning data can be organized to support telehealth applications.