Health Innovations in Elderly Care

Demographic transition has taken place in the world population and this has led to an increase in the number of older people in the world. Aging has been associated with chronic diseases and disabilities.This situation has increased with time and has significant challenges and implications to the administration, health and social services provisions etc. For this reason, there has been a need for health innovations that would ensure the continuity of quality elderly care and ensure healthy aging. To achieve health innovations, there is need to know the existing innovations. This study aimed at answering the question of “What health innovations are there in elderly care?”. A systematic literature search was conducted through Laurea’s electronic databases . Three databases were used; CINAHL with fulltext (EBSCO),ProQuest Central and SAGE Premier 2012. With a suitable combination of search terms and limitation to articles published after January 2010 or before December 2016, the initial search yielded a total of 283,117 articles. These articles were finally reduced to 9 used in the study following a step by step application of the limitation criteria and a critical appraisal of the articles. The 9 articles were coded and analysed by qualitative analysis. The findings showed that health innovations in elderly care have taken place in five main areas that included technological innovation, medical innovation, innovation in educatin and communication, environmental and economics innovation, managerial innovation. However, technological innovation is at the centre of most other health innovations

Better Health and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) from a global, regional and local economic perspective

Assisting technologies aim to provide more support in the meeting of one's daily needs and the preservation of one's autonomy and quality of life. Continual developments in medicine, medical equipment, nursing and medical care are assumed to lead to new types of care being created. A high degree of social and economic relevance has been attributed to assisting technologies, as well as information and communication systems, by scientists and politicians alike, particularly in connection with the development, promotion and organization of so-called senior-friendly environments and with ambient assisted living (AAL).economic development; ambient assisted living; health care system; assisting technologies; health care; new technologies; health economy

M-health review: joining up healthcare in a wireless world

In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to deliver health and social care. This trend is bound to continue as providers (whether public or private) strive to deliver better care to more people under conditions of severe budgetary constraint

Better health and ambient assisted living (AAL) from a global, regional and local economic perspective

Assisting technologies aim to provide more support in the meeting of one's daily needs and the preservation of one's autonomy and quality of life. Continual developments in medicine, medical equipment, nursing and medical care are assumed to lead to new types of care being created. A high degree of social and economic relevance has been attributed to assisting technologies, as well as information and communication systems, by scientists and politicians alike, particularly in connection with the development, promotion and organization of so-called senior-friendly environments and with ambient assisted living (AAL). Here the focus is especially upon the aged of the future, their specific demands and resources, which these technologies should be able to serve while adhering to their individual requirements. These new technologies can also be extremely relevant to people surrounding the elderly. They can make a considerable difference to the way in which people are able to live together for example by assisting the nursing care provided by close relatives and they may represent new opportunities to the providers of outpatient and inpatient nursing and medical care. -- Assistierende Technologien sollen der besseren Unterstützung bei der Deckung von Bedürfnissen des täglichen Lebens und zur Erhaltung von Selbständigkeit und Lebensqualität dienen. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass durch die kontinuierliche Entwicklung in der Medizin, der Medizintechnik sowie assistierender Technologien in der medizinischen und pflegerischen Versorgung neue Versorgungsmöglichkeiten geschaffen werden. Insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit der Entwicklung, der Förderung und der Ausgestaltung sogenannter altersgerechter Lebenswelten bzw. eines ambient assisted living (AAL) wird den unterstützenden Technologien und Informations- und Kommunikationstechniken von wissenschaftlicher und politischer Seite eine hohe gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Relevanz zugewiesen. Im Fokus stehen dabei vor allem die zukünftigen Älteren und ihre spezifischen Bedarfe und Ressourcen, die diese Technologien ihren individuellen Bedürfnissen entsprechend nutzen können sollen. Derartige Techniken können aber auch für Personen aus dem sozialen Umfeld der Älteren von hoher Relevanz sein. So können diese die Gestaltung des Zusammenlebens erheblich ändern - beispielsweise durch die Unterstützung bei der pflegerischen Versorgung durch Angehörige - und beispielsweise den Anbietern im Bereich der gesundheitlichen und pflegerischen ambulanten und stationären Versorgung neue Möglichkeiten der Versorgung bieten.

Semantic Infrastructure for Service Environment Supporting Successful Aging

Demographic changes and the rapid increase of aging people are occurring throughout the world. There is a need for step-by-step developing service environment to support elderly living as old as possible at home. Digital equipment and technology solutions installed at home produce real-time data which can be used for predictive and optimized service creation. New technology solutions have to be tested at home environments to get certainty of usability, flexibility, and accessibility. The implementation of new digitalization has to happen according to ethical rules taking into account the values of elderly people. The data gathered through digital equipment is used in optimizing service processes. However, service process misses common ontology and semantic infrastructure to use the gathered data for service optimization. The service environment and semantic infrastructure, which could be used in social and health care, are introduced in this article

Geisinger Health System: Achieving the Potential of System Integration Through Innovation, Leadership, Measurement, and Incentives

Presents a case study of a physician-led nonprofit healthcare group exhibiting the attributes of an ideal healthcare delivery system as defined by the Fund. Describes how its ProvenCare model improved clinical outcomes with reduced resource utilization

Addressing the Quality and Safety Gap Part I: Case Studies in Transforming Hospital Nursing and Building Cultures of Safety

Presents case studies of strategies four healthcare systems and a state government are using to address underlying causes in flawed systems: strengthening care processes, optimizing staffing, and promoting safe work habits. Lists policy recommendations

Technology Target Studies: Technology Solutions to Make Patient Care Safer and More Efficient

Presents findings on technologies that could enhance care delivery, including patient records and medication processes; features and functionality nurses require, including tracking, interoperability, and hand-held capability; and best practices