It is becoming a widespread fact that people are living longer. We are outliving our parent’s ages, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can begin to cause stress and oversubscription of things like our care and retirement homes. Things like a quicker diagnosis of illnesses and diseases, as well as a rapid improvement in healthcare and medications available, there is no surprise that people are at their healthiest and living long and prosperous lives. So how do we combat this issue before it becomes a problem? Introducing some technological advancements within our care homes to help them run more efficiently and still be a nicer environment to live in. There will be techie ways that care homes can improve, and I thought I would share with you what some of them are.
Better WiFi connections for patients and relatives
Everything is digital these days, and while this is just the way our world is going, care and retirement homes are still a little in the dark ages when it comes to fast WiFi speeds for their patients and people they provide care for, as well as the relatives and friends visiting. However, with advancements in communication, a decent WiFi connection can make things far easier for patients. With things like Facetime and Skype, patients can keep in touch with relatives and friends in real time and see their loved ones. This can be great for morale as well as keeping spirits high and thoughts positive. As things are developing through the internet, there is no surprise that people want to be more online these days, with many of the older generation now having things like Facebook profiles and email accounts.
A faster response system for patient and care workers
With more patients to care for, there is a rapidly growing problem of care workers not being able to respond to alarms and systems when needed to. In some cases this could be an emergency and response should be far quicker. Many care homes use an Internet of things platform, and while an iot in healthcare is productive, some companies can include a software where a response is dealt with immediately. For example, calling the correct care worker to handle the problem that the alarm has been raised for.
Introducing the use of wearable technology for health
Finally, wearable technology is fast becoming a thing as more of us are wearing devices on out writs that are linked to our smart phones. This can be super productive for a care home environment as health can be monitored from a distance. For example, the amount of exercise being taken versus heart rate. However, this wearable technology could also serve as a reminder to take medication, for doctors appointments and hospital visits. Making it easier for care workers to monitor their patients while they still live independently.
Hopefully, we will start to see some of these techie improvements in the future.
