Design of an Event-Driven, Low-Power Wearable Fall Detection Device for Hospital Use in Older Adults: A Proof-of-Concept

As life expectancy increases, a growing proportion of hospitalized older adults require continuous medical supervision during inpatient care. Falls among hospitalized older adult inpatients are a major patient-safety challenge, associated with increased injury rates, prolonged hospital stays, and higher healthcare costs. Adoption of existing fall detection solutions has been limited by patient privacy concerns, high implementation costs, inconsistent detection performance, such as false alarms, limited battery life, and discomfort associated with intrusive wearable designs. This study presents a compact and lightweight wearable device for fall detection and alerting designed for hospital environments. Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity enables transmission of alerts to a paired mobile device or nurse station gateway used by healthcare staff, while an onboard audible buzzer provides immediate notification to nearby personnel within the patient room. The device is battery-powered and rechargeable, enabling extended operation without frequent recharging. The wearable fall detection device was successfully implemented as a compact, clip-on system integrating inertial sensing, local alerting, and Bluetooth Low Energy communication. An event-driven architecture enabled continuous motion monitoring with low average power consumption, resulting in an estimated battery life of approximately 1,800 hours under idle conditions and 100-200 hours under a defined worst-case continuous activity scenario, based on component datasheet current consumption and assumed duty cycles. The system supports both immediate audible alerts for nearby staff and remote notifications via Bluetooth, enabling timely intervention in hospital settings. The proposed wearable device monitors patient movement using an integrated accelerometer to identify motion patterns consistent with fall-like events, based on predefined acceleration-based trigger conditions. In combination with Bluetooth-based communication, the system enables real-time interaction with external devices. Powered by a rechargeable battery designed for long-lasting operation, the device represents a practical solution to the identified patient safety challenge. The device was evaluated at the bench and system-integration level through functional testing of motion-triggered event detection, alert generation, and wireless communication. Performance evaluation focused on system responsiveness, power consumption profiles, and estimated battery life under defined operating scenarios rather than clinical outcome validation. No human subject testing was conducted, and results reflect a proof-of-concept implementation intended to inform future validation studies.