Internet of Things Based Intravenous Fluid Level Monitoring and Alert System for Nigeria Tertiary Healthcare Centers Using Esp32 Microcontroller

Abstract

The application of internet of things (IoT) in critical sectors of human endeavours has extended greatly to healthcare services where IoT technologies has been used to monitor several patient’s vital signs such as heartbeat, glucose level, blood pressure among others and provide timely report for immediate attention to enhance patient’s outcomes. In Nigeria tertiary healthcare centers, the ratio of nurses to patients is very low and most patient needs intravenous (IV) therapy as there are always several critical cases to handle hence a need for automated intravenous fluid level monitoring in our tertiary healthcare centers. Intravenous therapy is a critical component of medical care, yet most Nigeria tertiary healthcare centers rely on traditional monitoring methods that are prone to human error that could compromise patient safety. This paper aims at implementing an internet of things (IoT) based IV fluid level monitoring and alert system in Nigeria tertiary healthcare centers. The system was developed using ESP32 microcontroller, a 5kg load cell with HX711 amplifier, and a multi-channel alert mechanism (LEDs, buzzer, and 16x2 I2C liquid-crystal display (LCD), coupled with cloud connectivity via ThingSpeak and notification services (Mailjet and Twilio). It continuously tracks IV fluid levels, converting weight data into volume measurements, and triggers real-time alerts at warning (50%) and critical (15%) thresholds. The system implemented several Security features, including Transport Layer Security. (TLS) encryption and multi-tier authentication to ensure data integrity. The Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) was used as the programming environment due to its cross-platform compatibility, simplicity, and robust support for ESP32 development. Its intuitive interface accelerated prototyping, enabling rapid deployment of test code for sensor calibration. It has an extensive community-driven documentation and troubleshooting resources, which simplified resolving hardware-specific challenges, such as I2C address conflicts between the HX711 and LCD. Additionally, the IDE’s serial plotter tool proved invaluable for visualizing real-time weight data during load cell calibration, ensuring the accuracy of the weight-to-volume conversion algorithm. The system was tested using use case and it satisfied all test conditions making it very suitable for intravenous fluid level monitoring in our tertiary healthcare centers.