A home hospitalization system based on the Internet of things, Fog computing and cloud computing

Inform Med Unlocked. 2020:20:100368. doi: 10.1016/j.imu.2020.100368. Epub 2020 Jun 9.

Abstract

In recent years, the world has witnessed a significant increase in the number of elderly who often suffer from chronic diseases, and has witnessed in recent months a major spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), which has led to thousands of deaths, especially among the elderly and people who suffer from chronic diseases. Coronavirus has also caused many problems in hospitals, where these are no longer able to accommodate a large number of patients. This virus has also begun to spread between medical and paramedical teams, and this causes a major risk to the health of patients staying in hospitals. To reduce the spread of the virus and maintain the health of patients who need a hospital stay, home hospitalization is one of the best possible solutions. This paper proposes a home hospitalization system based on the Internet of Things (IoT), Fog computing, and Cloud computing, which are among the most important technologies that have contributed to the development of the healthcare sector in a significant way. These systems allow patients to recover and receive treatment in their homes and among their families, where patient health and the hospitalization room environmental state are monitored, to enable doctors to follow the hospitalization process and make recommendations to patients and their supervisors, through monitoring units and mobile applications developed for this purpose. The results of evaluation have shown great acceptance of this system by patients and doctors alike.

Keywords: Cloud computing; Coronavirus; Fog computing; Health monitoring; Home hospitalization; Internet of Things (IoT).