Weight Measurement System for Emergency Pediatric Transports

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) administer supplemental oxygen to patients experiencing respiratory distress en route to the hospital. Proper oxygen dosage is calculated using a patient’s weight. The variability of these estimations leads to inaccurate oxygen administration. Patients ages 0-2 have developing respiratory systems and are therefore particularly susceptible to complications due to improper oxygen dosage. Given this information our team developed a comfortable and compact device which can accurately measure the weight of patients 0-2 years old, in order for EMTs to administer the correct dosage of supplemental oxygen. The device utilizes force sensors configured on a flexible mat. The force sensors are arranged specifically at patient pressure points and are connected to LEDs to confirm proper contact is made. The sensors detect a change in force, and using a microcontroller the force was changed to a weight, and finally converted to the desired flow rate for our patient.