Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

A textbook of community nursing.

A Textbook of Community Nursing is a comprehensive and evidence-based introduction covering the full range of professional topics, including professional approaches to care, public health, eHealth, therapeutic relationships and the role of community nursing in mental health. The new edition has been updated throughout, including new guidelines and policies. It also provides a stronger focus on evidence-based practice

Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems (SIMPHS): Report on Typology/Segmentation of the PHS Market

This market segmentation reports for Personal Health Systems (PHS) describes the methodological background and illustrates the principles of classification and typology regarding different fragments forming this market. It discusses different aspects of the market for PHS and highlights challenges towards a stringent and clear-cut typology or defining market segmentation. Based on these findings a preliminary hybrid typology and indications and insights are created in order to be used in the continuation of the SIMPHS project. It concludes with an annex containing examples and cases studies.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Patient Engagement through Mobile Health Interventions of Diabetes: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper aims to review the HIMSS patient engagement framework\u27s applicability and to recognise the patient engagement features presented in current mHealth interventions for improving engagement in diabetes self-management. Scopus, Web of Science and Medline databases were searched for relevant studies. The selected studies were then analysed using the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) patient engagement framework. Twenty engagement features were identified from twenty-nine studies reviewed. Half of the HIMSS patient engagement framework categories were seen in the studies. This review shows that mHealth interventions have achieved the third and fourth phases of the HIMSS patient engagement framework. In addition, this review suggests improvements in patient engagement facilitation, including integrating patient-generated data into electronic health records, collaboration access to the health records, and peer support through online community forums. Finally, the future patient engagement framework is discussed for mHealth technology

Evaluating the economic impact of smart care platforms : qualitative and quantitative results of a case study

Background: In response to the increasing pressure of the societal challenge because of a graying society, a gulf of new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) supported care services (eCare) can now be noticed. Their common goal is to increase the quality of care while decreasing its costs. Smart Care Platforms (SCPs), installed in the homes of care-dependent people, foster the interoperability of these services and offer a set of eCare services that are complementary on one platform. These eCare services could not only result in more quality care for care receivers, but they also offer opportunities to care providers to optimize their processes. Objective: The objective of the study was to identify and describe the expected added values and impacts of integrating SCPs in current home care delivery processes for all actors. In addition, the potential economic impact of SCP deployment is quantified from the perspective of home care organizations. Methods: Semistructured and informal interviews and focus groups and cocreation workshops with service providers, managers of home care organizations, and formal and informal care providers led to the identification of added values of SCP integration. In a second step, process breakdown analyses of home care provisioning allowed defining the operational impact for home care organization. Impacts on 2 different process steps of providing home care were quantified. After modeling the investment, an economic evaluation compared the business as usual (BAU) scenario versus the integrated SCP scenario. Results: The added value of SCP integration for all actors involved in home care was identified. Most impacts were qualitative such as increase in peace of mind, better quality of care, strengthened involvement in care provisioning, and more transparent care communication. For home care organizations, integrating SCPs could lead to a decrease of 38% of the current annual expenses for two administrative process steps namely, care rescheduling and the billing for care provisioning. Conclusions: Although integrating SCP in home care processes could affect both the quality of life of the care receiver and informal care giver, only scarce and weak evidence was found that supports this assumption. In contrast, there exists evidence that indicates the lack of the impact on quality of life of the care receiver while it increases the cost of care provisioning. However, our cost-benefit quantification model shows that integrating SCPs in home care provisioning could lead to a considerable decrease of costs for care administrative tasks. Because of this cost decreasing impact, we believe that the integration of SCPs will be driven by home care organizations instead of the care receivers themselves

Effective implementation and monitoring of telehealth and telecare in Ireland: learning from international best practice.

This document synthesises the information provided in a number of papers relating to Telecare/Telehealth commissioned by and developed for the National Disability Authority between 2014 and 2017. The papers in question were developed by researchers in Work Research Centre (WRC), the National Disability Authority and the University of Ulster, and this report has taken key learning and information from each of them to create this composite briefing paper

Mobile virtual communities for telemedicine: research challenges and opportunities

Today’s mobile devices have become increasingly powerful with enhanced features such as increased CPU power and memory, internet connectivity in multiple ways (multi-homing) and interfacing with external peripheral devices (for instance GPS receiver, medical sensors). The proliferation of these mobile devices combined with an increasing willingness of users to share information available on and around mobile device (e.g. location, user activity) has given rise to Mobile Virtual Communities (MVC). This way, social interaction is now feasible anywhere and anytime. In another paradigm referred to as telemedicine, information and communication technologies are being investigated and employed in areas such as health maintenance and alleviation, cure and prevention of diseases. In general, (mobile) virtual communities have been explored in the telemedicine domain where they were found to be promising in many cases. However, evidence for their effectiveness has yet to be established. With this background and based on our expertise with MVCs and telemedicine, we address a number of aspects including: 1) basic concepts in telemedicine and MVC and analysis of effectiveness and success factors of MVCs in the telemedicine domain; 2) a prototype architecture addressing mobility issues for the MVC in the telemedicine domain; and 3) reflection on the opportunities and research challenges involved in using MVCs in the telemedicine domain