Visual display system of changes in physiological state for patients with chronic disorders

There is an acute issue of patients recovering with chronic disorders in medicine of critical conditions — they are a vegetative and minimally consciousness state. Such states develop in patients after coma and are characterized by the presence of wakefulness with complete or almost complete absence of signs of purposeful behavior. Capturing small reflexes and body signs allows observing changes in the physiological state of the patient, the effectiveness of the treatment course and requires a continuous process, which is not always possible considering to the high workload of medical staff. In this regard, visual display and data transmission systems for patients are more efficient. The display device should be safe, mobile and not restrict the patient's movement, should not have a negative impact on the patient. The display method should be intuitively understandable and clear for prompt decision-making. The main parts of the visual system are sensors of physiological signs on the patient's body, a control module, a visual display object, and a data transmission module. RGB Arlight 5060 LED strips with pixel addressing on a textile substrate are used as display elements. The object of the visual display consists of three layers: a duvet cover on the underside, a wool blanket, a cotton backing with LED strips. The paper presents an assessment of the heating of the proposed visual display system for patients with chronic disorders and a comparison of the results with the maximum permissible heating of human skin. The heating estimation was performed by COMSOL Multiphysics cross-platform finite element analysis, solver, and multiphysics simulation. The simulation results are compared with an experimental study using a contact temperature meter Centre 304 and an infrared camera Optris PI 640i. The security of the system has been confirmed. Scenarios for the indicators to reduce the thermal impact are proposed. The proposed visual display system may be relevant when monitoring the physiological state of patients in Intensive Care Units. The implementation of the system will help to see changes in the physiological state and increase the chances of getting out of a chronic condition in the future.