You are here

patient-centric hurricane evacuation management system

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2011
Summary:
The use of wireless sensor networks for a myriad of applications is increasing. They can be used in healthcare for emergency management. In Florida, hurricanes are the main source of natural disasters. There has been a high incidence of hurricanes over the past decade. When a hurricane warning is issued it is important that people who live in potentially dangerous areas, such as along the coast, evacuate for their safety. Nursing homes and other care facilities for elderly or disabled people experience difficulty with the evacuation as their residents require additional assistance. The characteristics and challenges of a hurricane evacuation are investigated. A patient-centric hurricane evacuation management system is proposed to allow healthcare providers the ability to continuously monitor and track patients. During a hurricane there are usually scarce energy resources and a loss of basic communication services such as cellular service and Internet access. We propose the architecture of the system that allows it to operate in the absence of these services. The hardware and software architectures are also presented along with the main phases of operation. The system was then validated and the performance evaluated via simulation using the OPNET Modeler.
Title: A patient-centric hurricane evacuation management system.
166 views
66 downloads
Name(s): Ambrose, Arny Isonja
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2011
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: xii, 108 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: The use of wireless sensor networks for a myriad of applications is increasing. They can be used in healthcare for emergency management. In Florida, hurricanes are the main source of natural disasters. There has been a high incidence of hurricanes over the past decade. When a hurricane warning is issued it is important that people who live in potentially dangerous areas, such as along the coast, evacuate for their safety. Nursing homes and other care facilities for elderly or disabled people experience difficulty with the evacuation as their residents require additional assistance. The characteristics and challenges of a hurricane evacuation are investigated. A patient-centric hurricane evacuation management system is proposed to allow healthcare providers the ability to continuously monitor and track patients. During a hurricane there are usually scarce energy resources and a loss of basic communication services such as cellular service and Internet access. We propose the architecture of the system that allows it to operate in the absence of these services. The hardware and software architectures are also presented along with the main phases of operation. The system was then validated and the performance evaluated via simulation using the OPNET Modeler.
Identifier: 768426616 (oclc), 3329832 (digitool), FADT3329832 (IID), fau:3757 (fedora)
Note(s): by Arny Isonja Ambrose.
Vita.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): OPNET
Emergency management -- United States -- Planning
Evacuation of civilians -- United States -- Planning
Emergency medical services -- United States -- Planning
Disaster medicine -- United States -- Planning
Medical informatics
Wireless communication systems
Internet in medicine
Telecommunication in medicine
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3329832
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU