IoT Based Environmental and Water Monitoring System for Sterilization Units in Honduras

Sterilization is a crucial process in healthcare. The environment in which it is performed plays a critical role and any change in temperature and humidity of the environment can compromise the process. In addition, the water quality is also fundamental since its contamination and hardness can cause high impact damage to surgical material and medical equipment. It is difficult for public hospitals in Honduras to control these processes, environments, and water, possibly due to factors such as limited budgets or lack of knowledge of international guidelines. It is proposed to develop a monitoring system capable of measuring environmental and water quality parameters through the implementation of IoT for sterilization units. A vast literature review and the support provided by experts in the field allowed to establish the success criteria for the development of the prototype. The V methodology was used for the mechatronic design to obtain a complete product. By means of experimentation and finally field tests were carried out to determine the components that would integrate the system and the validation of their measurements. A monitoring system was developed to measure relative humidity, temperature, dust particles and total dissolved solids in the water. These measurements were displayed on a web based Ubidots dashboard for data visualization, storage, and export. Once the measurements were obtained, a comparison with international standards was carried out to demonstrate the importance of environmental monitoring in this area.