Hospitals and health care institutions are more focused than ever on improving patient recovery rates and times. Patient recovery is impacted by overall facility environmental quality, and many factors are involved including: temperature, lighting, sound levels, ventilation, air quality, and levels of infectious disease contamination.

The increase in Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) is of great concern to hospital facilities personnel and infection control coordinators. HAIs may be related to airborne pathogens and pathogens carried by airborne particulates, so monitoring particulates is part of managing overall environmental quality.

Facility environmental monitoring has historically been performed using discrete sensors plugged into the wall, or by handheld sensors and monitors. The wall mounted sensors invariably lead to power outlet congestion, and unsightly cabling to multiple devices, in already congested patient areas. The handheld sensors require a technician to operate the sensor, and do not provide real time, 24/7 monitoring, and are very expensive.

Oberon’s Sentinel™ real time environmental quality monitoring solution is comprised of a facility wide, low cost, compact, multi-sensor module which is network connected and powered by a single Ethernet data cable, and a web based Graphical User Interface (GUI). Critical environmental quality metrics are sampled and reported from the Sentinel™ module, reducing demands on power outlets and telecommunications outlets.

The Sentinel™ module can be quickly installed on any wall telecommunications outlet, placed on a desk/table/cart, or installed into an Oberon wireless access point enclosure. Since the module is IEEE 802.3 compliant, it can be accessed from anywhere on the network. The user interface is web based, so it can be brought up on any device with a Web browser for convenient monitoring and analysis. The user can request that the application display monitored parameters over user specified timeframes.

Using Oberon’s Sentinel™, environmental quality personnel can develop long term, granular, continuous metrics of facility wide environmental factors, changes in factors due to construction and renovation, and impact of changes in procedures for maintenance and operation of HVAC systems.

Sentinel™ can be set-up to generate automatic reports over specified time periods, and can activate (e-mail) alerts when measured parameters exceeding prescribed levels. Alerts also indicate location to expedite remediation.

Benefits

• Real time, 24/7 monitoring and reporting of environmental quality metrics, providing instant notification of issues
• Monitor and set alerts for undesirable environmental conditions
• Monitor temperature, humidity, air quality, airborne particulates, light, sound
• Remotely monitor patient sites
• Low cost multi-sensor module and simple installation using existing Power over Ethernet network

Specifications

• Form Factor: Wall Mount, Desktop, Wireless Access Point Enclosure
• Environmental Metrics: Temperature (C/F), Humidity (%), Air Quality/Gas Concentration (ppm), Light/Irradiance (uW/cm²), Airborne Particulates (mg/m³), Motion (Present/Not Present), Sound (%)
• Gas Detection: Ammonia, Alcohol, NOx, Benzene, CO2, Smoke
• Interface: Single RJ-45, IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, IEEE 802.3af Power Over Ethernet
• User Programmable Alerts: The user can program alerts for each metric
• Database: Firebird DBMS with programmable duration, graphical data available for all metrics
• Network Security: All communications with the module use AES network encryption

Sentinel Web Interface Screenshots