Intelligent IoT-based Alert System for Monitoring Drip of Intravenous Fluids (IV) and Reverse Blood Flow
TL;DR
The findings indicate that IBIVDS can improve the responsiveness, reliability, and consistency of IV therapy monitoring while reducing dependence on continuous manual observation.
Abstract
Intravenous (IV) therapy is widely used in hospitals for administering fluids, medications, and nutrients, yet conventional manual monitoring may lead to delayed intervention, fluid depletion, reverse blood flow, and other patient-safety risks. This study proposes an Intelligent IoT-Based IV Drip System (IBIVDS) for real-time monitoring of IV fluid levels and reverse blood flow. The system integrates a NodeMCU ESP8266 microcontroller, load-cell weight sensor, LCD, buzzer, and Node-RED platform, supported by Arduino IDE, FreeRTOS, Python, HTML, JavaScript, and Django. The system continuously monitors IV fluid status and automatically sends alerts to healthcare personnel when predefined thresholds are reached. Notifications are generated at 50% remaining fluid and again at 20%, with the latter accompanied by an audible buzzer alert. Experimental evaluation showed that the proposed system achieved an average notification delay of approximately 0.01 min, substantially lower than the approximately 1 min delay reported for the baseline Smart Infusion Pump System under comparable conditions. The system also provides room and patient identifiers to facilitate rapid clinical response. The novelty of this study lies in integrating real-time IV level monitoring, reverse blood-flow prevention, multi-threshold alerting, and remote IoT-based notification within a single low-cost monitoring framework. The findings indicate that IBIVDS can improve the responsiveness, reliability, and consistency of IV therapy monitoring while reducing dependence on continuous manual observation.