Restriction in mobility and social isolation do not have to hinder the elderly people from leading their normal lives. Advancement in technology has brought about innovative trends in the healthcare needs of elderly people in the society. Such advancements have contributed to the improvement of healthcare delivery. New technology has enhanced cost-efficiency in health centres and helped in benefiting senior citizens with complex chronic disease problems that come about due to old age. Some commonly used health care innovations for senior citizens include home-based healthcare, stead-wear gloves, medical alert devices, mobile Apps and smart glasses as discussed hereinafter.
Home-based health care is a cost-effective trend in health care for senior citizens that improve home-care services through implementing new technology (Kvedar, Coye & Everett, 2014) . This trend provides room for psychological support and relies on mobile technology whereby patients are provided with iPads that enable doctors to track their medical status. As compared to the inpatient care, patients who undergo home care in their own environment are in a position to manage that own health for a long period of time and they are more satisfied. The innovative advancements have been proved to improve the quality of life as well as saving costs for healthcare services. This is because it enhances a reduction in the number of patients who are hospitalized, provides patients with their preferences and increases the satisfaction of both the patients and the healthcare provider.
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The introduction of study wear gloves for elderly people helps them with the trembling hands as it stabilizes the wrist. The innovation is composed of a ball-and-socket joint. The glove has non-Newtonian fluid which reacts differently to a variety of motion speeds (Peng et al., 2014). It is flexible enough to control a person’s natural hand movements. This innovation has benefited elderly people who experience disorders such as Parkinson’s disease that cause shaky hand movements.
Medical alert devices are an innovation which entails of a device that enables the elderly people to lead their normal lives. It provides peace of mind to those who provide them with medical care. It is a lively mobile medical alert garget that can be worn, is waterproof and has innovations such as GPS which help in tracking patients and detect when a patient falls. The device is made in a way that it can contact the trained personnel who respond immediately in case of an emergency. It helps their care givers detect when they are in need even when away from home.
Mobile applications such as cake give elderly people an opportunity to communicate and air out their feelings about death (Fleming, Kelly & Stillfried, 2015) . It is a question and answer platform from which the old people give yes or no answers about death and mortality. Such platforms allow them to give their preferences on issues concerning death and how they would like to organize their present lives before their last days. This gives them a chance to think on which state they would like to leave their families in and enables them make good life choices before they depart. Hearing aid apps with smart technology helps the elderly control their hearing levels depending on which environment they are in.
To finish with, Smart glasses is an innovation which provides the elderly generation with more clear views. It is used by those who experience a blurred vision. They are computer glasses that can be worn and are able to change tint through electronic methods. They are modified in a way that they can collect information from both internal and external sensors. This innovation provides elderly people who have sight disorders with the ability to see clearly and it enables them to move around.
References
Kvedar, J., Coye, M. J., & Everett, W. (2014). Connected health: a review of technologies and strategies to improve patient care with telemedicine and telehealth. Health Affairs , 33 (2), 194-199.
Peng, Y., Lv, B. H., Yuan, J. L., Ji, H. B., Sun, L., & Dong, C. C. (2014). Application and Prospect of the Non-Newtonian Fluid in Industrial Field. In Materials Science Forum (Vol. 770, pp. 396-401). Trans Tech Publications.
Fleming, R., Kelly, F., & Stillfried, G. (2015). ‘I want to feel at home’: establishing what aspects of environmental design are important to people with dementia nearing the end of life. BMC palliative care , 14 (1), 26.