Intelligent IoT-based Alert System for Monitoring Drip of Intravenous Fluids (IV) and Reverse Blood Flow

Douglas Omwenga  Nyabuga; Nadia  Iradukunda

doi:10.51903/jtie.v5i2.550

Authors

Douglas Omwenga Nyabuga Dept. of Information Technology, Mount Kigali University, Kigali, Rwanda, P.O Box 5826 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1757-9162
Nadia Iradukunda Dept. of Information Technology, Mount Kigali University, Kigali, Rwanda, P.O Box 5826 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5375-6328

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51903/jtie.v5i2.550

Keywords:

Internet of Things (IoT), Intravenous Fluid Monitoring, Reverse Blood Flow, Patient Safety

Abstract

Intravenous (IV) therapy is widely used in hospitals for administering fluids, medications, and nutrients, yet conventional manual monitoring may lead to delayed intervention, fluid depletion, reverse blood flow, and other patient-safety risks. This study proposes an Intelligent IoT-Based IV Drip System (IBIVDS) for real-time monitoring of IV fluid levels and reverse blood flow. The system integrates a NodeMCU ESP8266 microcontroller, load-cell weight sensor, LCD, buzzer, and Node-RED platform, supported by Arduino IDE, FreeRTOS, Python, HTML, JavaScript, and Django. The system continuously monitors IV fluid status and automatically sends alerts to healthcare personnel when predefined thresholds are reached. Notifications are generated at 50% remaining fluid and again at 20%, with the latter accompanied by an audible buzzer alert. Experimental evaluation showed that the proposed system achieved an average notification delay of approximately 0.01 min, substantially lower than the approximately 1 min delay reported for the baseline Smart Infusion Pump System under comparable conditions. The system also provides room and patient identifiers to facilitate rapid clinical response. The novelty of this study lies in integrating real-time IV level monitoring, reverse blood-flow prevention, multi-threshold alerting, and remote IoT-based notification within a single low-cost monitoring framework. The findings indicate that IBIVDS can improve the responsiveness, reliability, and consistency of IV therapy monitoring while reducing dependence on continuous manual observation.

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