Wearable diagnostics and self-driving cars signal future of tech in aged care
Ageing in place at home is giving way to ageing in place anywhere, thanks to the emergence of a new wave of assistive technology and so-called mobile health, says a leading expert.
Ageing in place at home is giving way to ageing in place anywhere, thanks to the emergence of a new wave of assistive technology and so-called mobile health, says a top expert in the field.
Professor Greg Tegart, a leading scientist and advocate for smart assistive technologies for the aged and disabled, said that the traditional barriers to greater uptake of the technologies were changing as large atypical healthcare players such as Google and Apple came into the market.
These barriers included a lack of integration among technologies and devices, insufficient funding for large-scale trials to provide evidence-based proposals, and a lack of business plans to attract investors into the installation of major systems.
These players, which also include Telstra Health, Philips, HCF and even some retailers, are prepared to provide products and strong service, he said.
“This is coupled with the dramatic increase in mobile health as mobile smart phones become ubiquitous, to the extent that many experts are predicting the demise of home-based devices for measuring vital parameters,” Professor Tegart told Australian Ageing Agenda.
“This can be done unobtrusively with wearable devices and data transmitted from mobiles,” he said.
Mr Tegart, who was awarded ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2015 in recognition of his work in assistive technology, spoke to AAA ahead of his appearance at the upcoming ITAC conference.
What’s the next disruptive technology?
Discussing the technologies that had the greatest potential to impact the care of older people, Professor Tegart pointed to wearable diagnostics, robotics and social media.
“Wearable diagnostics are clearly a significant disruptive technology. A wide variety of these are under development such as wireless skin sensors which fix to the skin like a tattoo and measure heart rate muscle activity and temperature; other sensors can monitor glucose levels and deliver insulin on demand,” he said.
Other movement sensors could be built into jewellery or fabrics, and powered by flexible woven fabrics generating electricity, he said.
“The development of suitable and reliable apps for smart phones supports innovation in wearables,” he added.
Robotics were another major disruptive technology in a number of ways, he said.
“One is to provide companionship and safety through humanoid or animal robots. This becomes important as the ratio of carers to patients decreases as the numbers of older people increase, which impacts on both home and hospital care,” Professor Tegart said.
“Another is the use of robots in hospitals for selected surgery and for analysing medical imaging records to free doctors to deal with the increasing numbers of older people with chronic conditions requiring hospital attention.”
Similarly, Professor Tegart said that autonomous vehicles could significantly change the quality of life for older people.
“People with minor disabilities, mild dementia and anxiety about public transport could have new fields opened to them by the development of UBER systems using electric autonomous vehicles to transport them. This is an added benefit of the worldwide thrust towards autonomous vehicles arising from success in the mining industry.”
Elsewhere, social media would continue to be a major driver of change, through the sharing of information on areas including healthcare, the performance of institutions in dealing with older people, new products and new approaches.
“This links to the empowerment of the patient and a drive to use new assistive technologies,” he said.
Supporting innovation, uptake
Asked what role government had in nurturing greater ICT adoption, Professor Tegart said that as a major provider of funds for healthcare, the government needed to be aware of where economies and increased efficiency could be achieved in a changed healthcare system.
“Clearly the technologies and their applications all stem from innovation. They are driven by different sources – companies looking to improve existing business or looking to new opportunities, academic researchers seeking new knowledge or seeing new applications and entrepreneurs with new ideas,” he said.
The ITAC conference runs 28-30 November in Melbourne.
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This is technology driven by soothsayers who are besotted by their own insights. Implants are the only way forward?
When I get to 65 do I get issued with implants and a mobile phone so someone can monitor my sugar levels? Get real!
There is a real world where people live normally but fall over and wander off as they get older. The problem is the delay of the onset of frailty and getting people to keep up to speed looking after their bodies and minds with activity . The issue is keeping people out of hospital and bed locking. Down to earth monitoring and watching out for telling symptoms of potential frailty.
Fine if you have a clinical issue you need to monitor and assuming the elder has a mobile phone to hand then all good.
Unfortunately, wearables for general purposes don’t get worn or don’t get charged. That’s a physical/personal issue and nothing to do with implants.
Lets understand there are horses for courses and no one size fits all. Care technology is not the wearable solution, it’s a base for many varieties of technology support.
Skin implants are new, specialised and exciting but lets not distracted from the multiple outcomes that technology can provide.
Yep, those vital-call pendants are really useful; unless you forget to put it on…or you’re unconscious.
24 hr heart rate monitors, robotic seals and continuous social media feeds, just what an inactive neurotic population needs.
But if we can enable people to better monitor and be aware of themselves, then surely this is a good thing.Wearables and connected health devices provide better information to the patient and carer through apps – as opposed to devices where information needs to be written down.