Medical Monitoring
Electronic Home Health Care
Smart home devices can monitor important medical and safety conditions for elderly, infirm, or special needs individuals who live alone or must be left unattended for periods of time—and bring help when it is needed.
Using these technologies, and integrating them into a home automation system, can help avoid situations which could lead to medical emergencies—and trigger an appropriate alert if it becomes necessary.
Such emergencies can otherwise result in acute care hospitalization, and even a permanent transfer from Aging-in-Place status into long-term care.
Home medical monitoring can help reduce risks associated with a number of conditions, including:
- Dehydration—not drinking enough fluids
- Malnutrition—not eating enough of the right kinds of foods
- Medication Non-compliance—not taking medications as prescribed
- Accidents—injuries caused by falls, and other preventable incidents
- Delayed help—for otherwise simple or benign situations.
Simple technologies available for medical and safety monitoring include:
- Smart Bed Pads—to monitor the occupant’s temperature, respiration, and quality of sleep.
- Medication Dispensers—pre-scheduled or remotely-operated, to track, control, and help maintain daily medication regimens.
- Sensors or Event Counters—to provide useful indicators of food and fluid intake, for example, when placed in the refrigerator.
- Motion Detectors and Timers—these passive devices can alert family members or caregivers of potential medical emergencies, by assessing and reporting deviations from daily living patterns.
- Security cameras, automated lighting, plus remotely monitored and controlled doors & windows, access control sensors, and intrusion control systems—all can provide a general layer of safety and security for elderly or infirm family members.
When integrated into a smart home system, these monitoring technologies can relay detailed information on someone Aging-in-Place to family members or home healthcare specialists in real time, so they can respond in a timely and appropriate fashion when needed.
Active vs Passive Devices
Senior care experts have learned that active devices like call pendants and special cell phones are often surprisingly ineffective in summoning help. Why? Because an elderly person in distress may not have the device at hand when an accident occurs, or is too embarrassed to use it, too confused to act, or even unconscious.
Passive devices like bed sensors, motion detectors, and security cameras can often be more effective in summoning emergency help—especially when used in combination, and implemented by a specialist skilled in Aging-in-Place applications of smart home technologies.