Remote Smart-home Technology Helps Seniors Age In Place
With an aging population speed five times faster than Japan, Taiwan has entered a “super-aged” society where seniors are growing rapidly in number. According to the statistics of Ministry of Health and Welfare, the local long-term care labor shortage has reached 15000 by 2020.
In response to this, TSMC Charity Foundation teamed up with Ministry of Health and Welfare and Feng Yuan Hospital to do a trial-run of a remote smart-home system developed by TSMC. Aside from introducing the remote smart-home system into the seniors’ residence, the team also made use of the social workers and clinical and healthcare advice provided by Feng Yuan Hospital. With such a design, the team was able to keep track of the seniors’ physiological parameters, medications and mobility status with the system, along with social workers’ in-time video calls and follow-up appointments to provide a well-rounded healthcare service. The collaboration ensures the safety and health of senior residents living alone and realizes the seniors’ wish to age in place.
Remote Physiologic Monitoring Safeguards Seniors’ Health
“How could we be of help?” For a charity that has been dedicated to senior residents living alone or in rural areas, TSMC Charity Foundation has visited health institutions across Taiwan since last year, exploring the difficulties and issues that frontline social workers face in their line of duty. As a result, the Foundation decided to address the shortage of healthcare workers by utilizing its forte: technology.
Caption: Figure 1. indoor positioning alerts hospital personnel of elderly fall and allows them to provide in-time assistance.
For example, a rural male senior citizen surnamed Chen participated in the system’s trial-run. With the system, the social workers found that Chen’s blood pressure was running high. After paying Chen a visit, they found that he was misled into believing false health information by pirate radio stations, and therefore stopped taking blood pressure medications altogether. After the social workers’ explanation of the importance of taking medications, Chen finally put to rest his doubts and resumed his medication routine.
Senior Healthcare Enhancement: Increasing Hospital’s Check-in Rate to Eight Times More
After six-months of trial run, the remote system has increased the seniors’ daily habit of recording one’s physiological parameters from 0% to 70%, while the smart pillbox design has improved correct medication usage in senior citizens, elevating the percentage from 50% to 83%. Elderlies who are able to use the video-call system to stay in touch with social workers or healthcare workers also increased from 0% to 50%.
Aside from the fruitful results on senior healthcare, Feng Yuan Hospital also gave their feedback on the trial run, stating that the remote system has saved healthcare workers and volunteers plenty of commuting time that they are now able to check in on 8 times more senior citizens with the same amount of time.
“With the assistance of social workers, I learned how to use the device and finally got the hang of the interface. I am now able to contact social workers via the video-call system at will. Not only do I feel I am keeping up with the society—which gives me a sense of achievement—it is also reassuring to be able to keep in touch with people who care about me.”—by a senior citizen in the trial-run project
The trial-run of the remote smart-home health system has been a success at Feng Yuan Hospital. With the cross-disciplinary collaboration between technology and health, TSMC Charity Foundation hopes to bring further assistance and benefits to disadvantaged senior citizens and long-term care families in a society that is grappling with labor shortage of healthcare and social workers.