Customer-centered and Technology-Enabled Homecare Service: Opportunities for Value Creation

In the advancement of society, the ability to provide quality healthcare has been increased, and the use of smart technology in the healthcare environment has been widely seen. The study uses in-depth interviews and field observation methods to collect data, aiming at understanding the perspectives and needs towards technology-enabled services. In addition, according to the results of the interviews, the user journey maps for each of the three technological solutions (smart pillbox, smart mattress, wearable device) we proposed have been drawn, and the pain points, touchpoints as well as opportunities of each role have been discussed and summarized. Lastly, the blueprint of the entire home care service has been depicted, which we expected to provide a reference for home care service providers for applying smart technologies to their homecare service models and create new value from managing their operations

Localino T-shirt: The Real-time Indoor Localization in Ambient Assisted Living Applications

In the last decade, smart textiles have become very popular as a concept and have found use in many applications, such as military, electronics, automotive, and medical ones. In the medical area, smart textiles research is focused more on biomonitoring, telemedicine, rehabilitation, sport medicine or home healthcare systems. In this research, the development and localization accuracy measurements of a smart T-shirt are presented, which will be used by elderly people for indoor localization in ambient assisted living applications. The proposed smart T-shirt and the work presented is considered to be applicable in cases of elderly, toddlers or even adults in indoor environments where their continuous real-time localization is critical. This smart T-shirt integrates a localization sensor, namely the Localino sensor, together with a solar panel for energy harvesting when the user is moving outdoors, as well as a battery/power bank that is both connected to the solar panel and the Localino sensor for charging and power supply respectively. Moreover, a mock-up house was deployed, where the Localino platform anchors were deployed at strategic points within the house area. Localino sensor nodes were installed in all the house rooms, from which we obtained the localization accuracy measurements. Furthermore, the localization accuracy was also measured for a selected number of mobile user scenarios, in order to assess the platform accuracy in both static and mobile user cases. Details about the implementation of the T-shirt, the selection and integration of the electronics parts, and the mock-up house, as well as about the localization accuracy measurements results are presented in the paper

Optimization of Health Care Services with Limited Resources

Health services are an integral part of hospitals or health clinics. Maximum service can get if the availability of resources in the service center is very adequate, but the availability of resources cannot be ascertained that it will always be adequate, and excessive availability of resources can also result in waste. The problem that often occurs is the lack of optimal services provided to patients due to limited available resources. Various obstacles, such as services that are not permitted are repeated, uncertain service distances, and service time are optimal barriers to service. This study aims to solve the problem of optimizing health care services for patients in hospitals using a number of variables in the hospital environment such as available resources, namely doctors, nursing medical personnel, technicians, technical equipment. This study is subject to the aim of minimizing all costs incurred to perform services, namely travel time from places to provide health services to patients, medical staff costs to provide services of the type of service, and so on. These variables are explained in the form of mathematical models that are able to explain existing constraints and minimize costs and time when performing services. The modeling results were tested using Linear Ineraktive Discrete Optimizer (LINDO) programming to determine errors that might occur in the model. The test results provide information that the maximum value of the objective function is 88.00 at the 25th iteration step so that the new model is expected to optimize health services for hospital patients and existing health clinics

Wearable Technologies Acceptance and Adoption by Elderly People in Masaka Uganda

The increased advancement in technology has ushered in wearable technology that can be used in various sectors, including medical services that can ranging from body fitness to remote monitoring of people’s health. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become a big burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and have significantly contributed to consistent morbidity and mortality, which have played a big role in impending development, due to increased poverty. Wearable technology may provide an integral part of the solution for providing health care to a growing aging population in the world. The philosophical approach used was Post positivist to underpin quantitative research, questionnaires were used to collect data from the elderly and health workers. The research approach was a deductive and Survey strategy which was used hand in hand with the deductive approach, and a cross-sectional time horizon was adopted to support a one round data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Results showed that, Masaka region has not yet adopted Wearable technology, however elderly patients of greater Masaka together with health workers are willing to adopt to wearable technology. The UTAUT-3 model was based on to determine the acceptance and use of technology. Keywords: Non-communicable diseases, elderly people, UTAUT model 3, wearable technologies DOI: 10.7176/IKM/13-6-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

A importância dos estudos da Moda para o adequado uso das tecnologias em roupas e calçados para monitorar indicadores de saúde e qualidade de vida

This essay aims to discuss the importance and repercussions of technological advance of the wearables in the quality of life. After the description of wearables applications and e-health development, we discuss how biotechnology, nanotechnology, internet of things, and artificial intelligence can affect freedom. Fashion, as the study of how people choose, can give important contributions to the development of proper quality of life. Fashion can help the discussions about how to balance the application of the wearables in daily life, individual freedom, and the welfare of the general public as well, the corporate interests.  Este ensayo tiene como objetivo discutir la importancia y las repercusiones del avance tecnológico de los sensores portátiles en la calidad de vida. Después de describir las aplicaciones de los sensores portátiles y la evolución de la salud digital, discutimos si la biotecnología, la nanotecnología, Internet de las cosas, la inteligencia artificial pueden afectar la libertad de las personas. Para ello, la moda, como forma de entender cómo suceden las elecciones de las personas, puede contribuir al adecuado desarrollo de la calidad de vida, discutiendo cómo equilibrar la introducción de sensores wearable en la vida diaria, las libertades individuales y los intereses de los colectivos corporativos públicos y privados.Este ensaio tem o objetivo de discutir a importância e as repercussões do avanço tecnológico dos sensores vestíveis na qualidade de vida. Após uma descrição das aplicações dos sensores vestíveis e da evolução da saúde digital, discutimos se biotecnologia, nanotecnologia, internet das coisas, inteligência artificial podem afetar a liberdade das pessoas. Para isso, a moda, como forma de compreender como acontecem as escolhas das pessoas, pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento adequado da qualidade de vida, discutindo como equilibrar a introdução dos sensores vestíveis no dia-a-dia, as liberdades individuais, e os interesses coletivos públicos e corporativos privados

A Review of Wearable Technologies for Elderly Care that Can Accurately Track Indoor Position, Recognize Physical Activities and Monitor Vital Signs in Real Time

Rapid growth of the aged population has caused an immense increase in the demand for healthcare services. Generally, the elderly are more prone to health problems compared to other age groups. With effective monitoring and alarm systems, the adverse effects of unpredictable events such as sudden illnesses, falls, and so on can be ameliorated to some extent. Recently, advances in wearable and sensor technologies have improved the prospects of these service systems for assisting elderly people. In this article, we review state-of-the-art wearable technologies that can be used for elderly care. These technologies are categorized into three types: indoor positioning, activity recognition and real time vital sign monitoring. Positioning is the process of accurate localization and is particularly important for elderly people so that they can be found in a timely manner. Activity recognition not only helps ensure that sudden events (e.g., falls) will raise alarms but also functions as a feasible way to guide people’s activities so that they avoid dangerous behaviors. Since most elderly people suffer from age-related problems, some vital signs that can be monitored comfortably and continuously via existing techniques are also summarized. Finally, we discussed a series of considerations and future trends with regard to the construction of “smart clothing” system