Smart Hospital Restroom Human Fall Detection Solution

As reported by Hong Kong journalist Wu Xuanpei:​ A 66-year-old man was found dead last Wednesday (the 20th) evening inside an accessible restroom at MTR Hung Hom Station. The deceased's family questioned MTR's negligence and demanded a thorough investigation and explanation from MTR. MTR apologized for the on-site handling and communication issues raised that day, stating that it would complete an internal investigation as soon as possible and install motion sensors in over 90 accessible restrooms across the entire MTR network within three months to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

To avoid such tragedies from recurring, our company has designed and developed a Restroom Patient Fall Monitoring Solution, taking hospital restrooms as an example.

Due to privacy concerns, cameras cannot be installed in hospital restrooms. To address the issue of patient falls in hospital restrooms, our company has developed a Patient Fall Alarm System. This system consists of three parts: sensors, wireless transmission, and an alarm terminal. The sensors consist of an emergency button and a 60GHz millimeter-wave radar sensor. The 60GHz millimeter-wave radar is installed on the ceiling of the restroom and has a built-in patient fall detection algorithm. When a patient falls, it outputs an alarm signal. The emergency button is installed beside the toilet stall; when a patient faces an emergency, pressing the button immediately outputs an alarm signal. For wireless transmission, there are three options: LoRa / LoRaWAN / Cat1. With LoRa / LoRaWAN wireless transmission, the received alarm signals are forwarded directly to the alarm terminal without going through a cloud platform, but they require LoRa / LoRaWAN for relaying. Cat1 requires a cloud platform to forward data, does not need a gateway, but incurs an annual traffic fee payable to the operator. The alarm terminal is placed at the nurse station; upon seeing the alarm signal received by the terminal, nurses can immediately go to provide assistance. The flowchart is as follows:

Solution for Patient Fall Monitoring in Restrooms / Toilets

According to relevant statistics, 41.67%​ of hospital patients experience falls in restrooms, making them high-risk areas for such incidents. The main environmental contributing factors include the lack of handrails and non-slip mats, poor or harsh lighting, as well as wet or uneven flooring. Every year, many patients who fall in hospital restrooms lose their lives due to delayed or unavailable rescue assistance. While timely help can prevent a fall from becoming critical, restrooms are private spaces where camera surveillance is not feasible. Consequently, monitoring patients for falls in hospital toilets has become an urgent problem that hospitals must address.

To tackle this challenge, our company utilizes 60GHz millimeter-wave radar​ tailored for restroom environments and has developed a dedicated fall detection algorithm​ that effectively monitors whether a patient has fallen.

LoRa / LoRaWAN Wireless Transmission

A millimeter-wave radar sensor is deployed in each restroom to detect patient falls. When a fall is detected, the sensor reports the alarm via LoRa / LoRaWAN​ wirelessly to a LoRa / LoRaWAN gateway. The gateway then uploads the alarm data to a cloud platform​ and simultaneously transmits it over the network to the alarm terminal at the local nurse station, enabling nurses to respond and provide timely assistance.

A millimeter-wave radar sensor is placed in each restroom to detect whether a patient has fallen. When the sensor detects a fall, the data is uploaded to a cloud platform via 4G. The cloud platform then transmits the alert through the network to the alarm terminal at the local nurse station, enabling nurses to respond promptly. The block diagram is as follows:

Product Introduction: Patient Fall Detection Solution for Restrooms 

Generally, the golden window for assisting a person after a fall is within the first few minutes. Once a patient falls, the nurse is alerted via the terminal and can respond immediately. Within this critical timeframe, prompt and appropriate first aid—such as checking breathing, maintaining an open airway, controlling bleeding, and immobilizing fractures—can minimize injury and significantly improve the patient’s chances of survival.

Our smart hospital bathroom fall detection solution has been successfully deployed in several real-world projects, including Shandong Daizhuang Hospital and Jining Rongjun Hospital. It has received strong support from healthcare professionals and patients alike. While ideally suited for hospitals, the solution is also highly adaptable to other high-traffic environments such as nursing homes, schools, and shopping malls.