Elder Care: Remote Monitoring

With the generation of baby boomers approaching senior age by 2025, it may be difficult for them to adjust to the new technology and implement it in their everyday activities. Baby boomers are commonly known for the rejection of modern conveniences in exchange for traditional technology and for traditional values. So how will this cripple the changing trend of life for the aging population and there to decisions of living at home alone and last but not lease Medicare and the risk factors of making such a life changing decision? These issues create a group who are underserved and vulnerable. Underserved because of the barriers they encounter when caring for themselves by trying to eat healthy and the inadequate health care cost. Vulnerable because of the economic disadvantages and the health conditions they may face while dealing with this financial burden. If these problems are not address we will a heavy burden in our healthcare system.

Innovations in mobile technology have brought remote healthcare management to the forefront of advanced medical care. The ability to record the cardiac activity of a patient at home has been available for some time. But that method utilized a recording device worn by the patient, which needed to be brought in to a hospital or doctor’s office for a healthcare professional to analyze. Today, real-time monitoring in the patient’s home is a reality.

As consumers utilize smartphones, tablets, and other devices for other functions like social media and email, they are starting to look at these features to assist them with their healthcare. Mobile body area network devices will be a growing trend in the coming years as a way to get patients engaged in their healthcare and also to give providers routine updates on the status of patients with chronic conditions. As DeGaspari (2014) indicates, these devices can lead to improved functionality for other devices used in hospitals, such as sensors for monitoring patients that might get up and wander or be a fall risk. Telemedicine will continue to grow as payers, providers, and patients all start to realize the mutual benefits that can be

This would enable some individuals to remain at home longer. Monitoring services include GPS tracking devices as well as alarm devices. Tracking devices are beneficial to individuals who tend to wander. Alarm devices can be good for individuals to alert someone from a 24-hour monitoring service when they have a sudden medical emergency (“Using Professional Home Care Services,” 2012). Understanding the various resources for long-term home care can permit an individual to stay-at-home in a safe and comfortable environment.

The baby boomer generation is expected to grow to 18.2 percent in 2025 (Strunk, Ginsburg, & Banker, 2006). This has been compared to 12.4 percent in 2005, which is a significant difference and will dramatically impact hospital services in the years to come. As this generation ages they will continue to experience more than one chronic illness in which will require more managed care and eventually require inpatient services. Research varies with this topic and some state that life longevity along with new technology continuously expanding and being more advanced will make a difference on how this will impact inpatient services. However, most agree that this generation will start to develop multiple chronic illnesses and the need for knee replacements and hip replacements will continue to increase. In the development of these conditions will increase the need for hospital inpatient

As individual get older they will depend on children or other family member to help take care of their healthcare needs. Caring for the elderly has turned into a national issue that can be identified with by most individuals across the nation. It estimated that one out of every five homes within the United States of America over 22.9 millions home will have someone who is takes care of an elderly relative or friend. They are over an estimated 44.4 million individuals providing care in one form or another who are over the age of 18 as or 2004 per AARP.

Just like other parts of the world, the United States is no exceptional, it is an aging society. Between the year 2000 and the year 2050, the number of the elderly is predicted to increase by 135%. Again, the population of the persons aged 85 years and above, which is the group that will mostly require health and long-term services, is predicted to

In 2011, the first of the Baby Boomers – the 78 million men and women born between 1946 and 1964 – will begin turning 65 at a rate of more than 8,000 per day. By year's end, the nation's senior population will have increased by almost 3 million, to nearly 49 million. By 2025, then, the total will reach 72 million – more than double the 35 million at the turn of the new century. (Home Instead Senior Care, 2010). Millions of Americans with chronic diseases and disabilities, like Alzheimer's, heart failure, kidney disease, and diabetes, need careful monitoring but do not want enter a nursing home or skilled care facility. I can recall my grandfather would only agree to go to the doctor's office if he was certain he could return

In order to understand how the aging population impacts health care, why the older population is expanding needs to be established. In the year 2011, the “baby boomer” generation began to have their 65th birthdays. The other side of the older population is that technology is improving dramatically,

Telehealth is a newer form of healthcare that is presenting a positive impact on patients’ health and on healthcare costs. Telehealth covers a range of technology from mobile device use to physician to physician or physician to patient consults through video to assessing a patient physically who is in a different state or country. This type of technology is becoming an acceptable form of healthcare for patients, providers and insurers. Telehealth is improving the outcomes for patients while decreasing the costs of healthcare. Physician offices as well as hospitals are diving deeper into this type of care. The ability to monitor patients remotely saves time and money for the patient but also decreases visits to the hospital. In 2012 it was reported that 308,000 patients around the world utilized remote monitoring for: hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and mental health conditions. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) estimated in 2009 that utilization of remote monitoring could reduce healthcare costs by $197 billion dollars by 2025. PWC also found that one out of two respondents surveyed were open to utilizing technology for healthcare. The Veteran’s Administrator’s telehealth program showed that utilization of health systems was reduced by 30% for those enrolled in the telehealth program. (Thomas-Hertz, 2013)

With care recipients set up with health monitoring technologies at home, spouses and children are likely to become involved in the caring process and informal caregivers may have to assist kinspersons with advanced care needs by means of sophisticated technology. This paper investigates some of the ethical implications of a near-future shift from institutional care to technology-assisted home care and the subsequent impact on the care recipient and formal- and informal care

After reading over several articles, I was not surprised at some of changes that would take place over the next 10 years. Everything takes time and money so, I didn’t really see things moving very quickly. Also, I was not surprised to read that specialty areas will concentrate on those that more cost-effective. These areas would consist of cancer, heart and neuroscience, cogitating the aging of the baby boomers. Care for cardiovascular patients will always be continual because people are still eating fried food. Oncology services are rising due to patients being diagnosed with cancer. Our communities are seeing an increase of aging within the population and organizations are not set up for this ‘tsunami’ of patients. The service lines that will remain to be widespread are connected to the aging population—cardiovascular, arthritis, and sports injuries, as the baby boomers stay active longer. Technology and data intensity will be very vital and change throughout the years. Telemedicine, home monitoring systems, EMR, and the administration of data will overall influence the foundation and physical space. One article stated, “that facilities are not yet as IT friendly as they will need to be. There will be more telemedicine and home care. Smart homes will be connected to the healthcare providers for monitoring blood sugar, heart rates and emergency alerts (The Future of Healthcare, 2015).”

AAL is defined as an approach where pervasive information technologies support elderly people to live independently, with self-confidence and security, reducing the use of resources. AAL devices and applications can support daily living activities or contribute for the individual participation in society, namely entertainment, social participation or communicate with family, friends, peers and providers. AAL can also provide applications and devices to support safety and health care, including mobile and wearable sensors to monitor physiological parameters, mobile emergency response systems, fall detection systems or video surveillance systems.

Meeting the specific individual needs, namely providing care services at the home of the individuals together with intelligent applications, is one of the main strategies to guarantee independent living of older people. Considering this context, important AAL goals are to promote personal (e.g. medication reminder) and distance support (e.g. telerehabilitation programs) or to provide the caregiver with accurate, up to date information so that the right care at the right time can be delivered (e.g. continuous monitoring of physiological parameters or behaviors, emotions and activities). These goals can contribute to the overall effort to provide personalized (i.e. less organization-centered and more focused on the individuals) and affordable access to essential services with efficacy and efficiency. A combination of conventional service provisions together with home care solutions and intelligent applications have been designed in a considerable number of AAL projects [4] and might contribute to the required framework for independent living conditions. For that, in what concerns the health care domain, AAL devices and applications should promote a digital health continuum where health and social evidence and personal data can be used in the entire range from lifestyle management to hospitalization or institutionalization, which includes health prevention and promotion,

Everyone on this universe deserves to live in peace and dignity, including elder people. Regardless of inabilities to social and economic contribution, an elder person deserves protection and interventions to stop abuse when it occurs (Brandl et al., 2006, p. 4). Due to increased number of reported cases of elder abuse and speculation in the media, it has turned the heads up of the policy makers and health professionals to address this issue. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to debate if it is appropriate enough to use cameras to monitor care of elder people, particularly in nursing homes. Through exploring different perspectives towards the issue and evaluating the information provided.