Research Article
Wearable Sensor Networks for Measuring Face-to-Face Contact Patterns in Healthcare Settings
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-23635-8_24, author={Alain Barrat and Ciro Cattuto and Vittoria Colizza and Lorenzo Isella and Caterina Rizzo and Alberto Tozzi and Wouter Broeck}, title={Wearable Sensor Networks for Measuring Face-to-Face Contact Patterns in Healthcare Settings}, proceedings={Electronic Healthcare. Third International Conference, eHealth 2010, Casablanca, Morocco, December 13-15, 2010, Revised Selected Papers}, proceedings_a={E-HEALTH}, year={2012}, month={10}, keywords={infectious diseases RFID wearable sensors mixing patterns}, doi={10.1007/978-3-642-23635-8_24} }- Alain Barrat
Ciro Cattuto
Vittoria Colizza
Lorenzo Isella
Caterina Rizzo
Alberto Tozzi
Wouter Broeck
Year: 2012
Wearable Sensor Networks for Measuring Face-to-Face Contact Patterns in Healthcare Settings
E-HEALTH
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-23635-8_24
Abstract
We describe the experimental deployment of a network of wearable sensors that allows the tracking of the location and mutual proximity of individuals in a hospital ward, in real time and at a large scale. In the course of the deployment, all individuals accessing the premises were monitored for a period of one week, including health care personnel, patients, visitors and tutors. The data collected yields a rich dynamical picture of the contact patterns between individuals and between categories of individuals. As an example, here we show that by constructing a cumulative weighted contact network aggregating the dynamical data on the entire duration of the deployment, it is possible to reliably uncover persistent relations among individuals.