Mobile Healthcare For Seniors
Master Thesis Proposal
By:
ArijAlfaidi
Introduction:
In the contemporary world, a lot of technological inventions are being developed at a very high rate. In this regard, many businesses are using this development to improve on their functions and operations for achieving the required levels of output. Many people can afford to manage their social and private lives using different technologies like personal digital assistants among others (Divali, Camosso-Stefinovic & Baker 2013). Technology has improved the manner in which information is developed and shared (O’Neill, et al. 2013). The development of the Smartphone seems to have had a big difference in the social and economic dimensions of life. Many people can manage their emails and social networking from their convenience. Developers have not stopped at that, thousands of mobile applications are still being developed to influence business practices, governance, and investment among many other essential functions that people often seek. It is important to point out that the beneficiaries of these technological have not been businesses alone, the healthcare industry is also benefiting heavily from technology.
The Healthcare is an urgent society problem that has been increased with the elderly population increasing .the Statistics shows that the Mobile healthcare industry will be projected with about 26 billion dollar industry by 2017. There are a lot of health and Fitness applications that are been downloaded daily by users all over the world. To be able to manage your health in your phone is a promising idea especially for senior people to remind them with their medication and to contact their health providers easily. I found it interesting to focus in my Master Thesis on the Mobile healthcare for seniors by using the Apple Watch as a sensor to measure the heart rate. Also, By using the notification System for the application to contact their relative when needed.
Literature Review
When people become old, the level of activity tends to reduce considerably and need more support from other people. Additionally,Yoo (2013)explains that many elderly people tend to have health issues that need constant attention from medical practitioners. When these elderly people attend hospitals and are given medicines, they often forget taking them as required. This observation is common among many elderly people, who in most instances, prefer to rest for long hours with little physical activities. When these people do not have someone to monitor their progress, they can succumb to the old-age health complications. Perhaps this may explain why many people prefer having their elderly family members taken to homes for the aged where they can be taken care of by people specially trained for that.
According toO’Neill, et al. (2013), taking the elderly to homes for the aged is not always a better option because most of these people like to be taken care of by their own people. In this regard, taking them to the homes for the aged makes them feel lonely and stressed up, something that can aggravate their health conditions in their old age. This understanding has sparked the need of having special ways in which these elderly people can be monitored by doctors from the comfort of their homes without necessarily having aides. Many developers have been active in the research and development of various applications that can be used to achieve this important goal (Ozdalga, OzdalgaAhuja2012).
Mobile apps that can help the elderly to manage their health
The idea is to develop and use the mobile device paired with the Apple watch to manage the Health of elderly people. The application will notify the Users with their Medicines and when the user took his dosage it will record that and if he misses a dosage it will notify his emergency contact or his health provider. The notification will be on the watch. Also it will measure the heart rate and when the heart rate becomes below the normal rates it will notify his emergency contact. Also, it will notify them daily to move around and do some activity because it is good for their health. Currently, hundreds of applications have been developed with the aim of managing some important tasks and resources like time and information, access and maintenance of health records, consulting and communications, training, education and decision-making among many others.
Different companies are currently researching on how they can tap into the business opportunity that exists in the healthcare industry. Healthcare practitioners acknowledge the fact that the use of mobile devices has been instrumental in increasing to patients and point-of-care tools, which have been significant in improving patient outcomes and clinical decision-making. One of the companies that have in the recent past made huge strides in this sector is Apple Inc. The development of the Apple watch has been regarded as the best innovation in healthcare, which stands to offer the seniors a lot of advantages in their health. The Apple watch has been designed to offer more that what a normal watch or phone can offer. Many people have rushed to purchase this device because of the immense benefits that it has on the health progress of their elderly people.
The Apple watch
The Apple Watch has been described as the big thing in health care, having features that brings the doctor at home especially for the seniors in the society. The Apple Watch comes along with an accelerator and heart rate monitor, which are beneficial in calculating the level of general fitness for the patient or person wearing it. The device has the ability to augment the particular information by linking with the iPhone, which is a Smartphone from the same company. Using Wi-Fi networks and GPS satellites, the device can also gather information that is used in determining its specific location at any point and any place.
The data from the Apple watch is ploughed two other devices that have also been developed by the company. These apps are Workout and Activity, here; the first device is dedicated towards monitoring exercise sessions. This device enables the user of the watch to track the intensity of jogging and gym activities as well as walking and other exercises being done in the neighborhood. On the other hand, the Activity device is quite passive. It tracks light exercise session like movements that the user makes during the day. These exercises may have been done within a minute or 12 hours. The Activity and Workout apps work alongside the Healthkit framework and health app, which have been announced by the company as having been incorporated in its iOS 8 (Guardian News 2015).
Another important feature of the Apple Watch is that it can easily monitor sleep patterns and heart rates in the most convenient way (Kiser 2011). Other essential tests that can be done like blood and urine can be managed using the kits and the resulting information linked to the iPhone. The phone can perform an analysis of the data and store it for future use, alternatively; the data can be sent to the doctor, who can use it to make prescriptions. The owner of the iPhone can have a highly comprehensive profile relating to their health. In this regard, he can determine his lifestyle patters and activities that affect his life on daily basis. This understanding is important in making decisions that can be used to improve the health in different ways. There is no other Application for the Watch until this moment but the one developed by Apple so my Application idea is to use the HealthKit to measure and record the heart rate and in the case of emergency it is going to notify the elderly emergency contact.
Research Question
For the success of this research activity, the research question that will guide the process is; how is the Apple Watch helpful in influencing healthcare practice for the seniors in the society.
The people that seem to be benefiting from this technology are the seniors or elderly people, who can use this watch to help them managing their health progress. With alert reminders on the Watch, the users can be reminded to take their dosages whenever they tend to forget. The best thing with this innovation is that if a patient fails to take the medicines as prescribed, it sends alerts to the doctor from wherever he is and he can use the information to give viable advice on the next course of action. Also, Using the Watch sensors we can control and measure the movement of the user and in case of emergency the Application will alert his emergency contact that his heart rate is below normal. Also, it can track his movement to advice and remind him to move around and do some exercises. According to Ozdalga, OzdalgaAhuja (2012), using this tool, doctors do not need to be physically present in the homes of these elderly people to monitor their progress. At the same time, patients do not have to keep visiting the doctors in healthcare setting unless it is very necessary to do so.
Methodological Design:
This research will use both qualitative and quantitative techniques in analyzing the effects of this that this technology is having in the health care industry. Interviews and questionnaires will be administered to respondents that have has different experiences with this technology. The respondents will include patients and non-patients that have used the iPhone and the heath app in different occasions. In the same way, quantitative techniques like documented videos and journals will also be used to understand the effects that mobile devices have had on people. All these information will be helpful in getting the relevant data needed in understanding the effects of mobile devices and apps have on the social and economic dimension of life. I started interviewing random old people and asked them what they need in the Health App in their phone to collect more data. I started working on this idea since I got the Apple watch Summer 2015 and I am still working on it on the fall semester about four months period till now and I am hoping to finish by November. I will try to use the Apple Healthkit in the Xcode and I will search for the open sources health Apps to take some implementation ideas from them and emerge it with what I will do in my code. My fears that I will not find the resources that I need for the watch because developing a Watch App is not easy to do with few recourses and ideas.
Summary and conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to appreciate that the Apple watch is a huge step in the right direction towards having affordable health care for all people. Inasmuch as there are a few challenges, with time, the technology will reach other countries and improve their healthcare practice. Just like changes in other industries, it always takes time for people to embrace and use these technologies. With many companies emerging in the technology industry, the hope of the healthcare industry looks bright (Mosa, Yoo & Sheets 2012). When many companies venturing fully in the research and development of devices related to the Apple Watch, the costs of these resources is bound to drop, something that will make them affordable by many people.
References
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Guardian News (2015). Apple Watch has designs on health industry – but is it good for doctors?The Guardian News.Retrieved from <
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Mosa A. S, Yoo I Sheets L. (2012). A systematic review of health care apps for smartphones.BMC Med Inform Dec Mak.12(10):67-76.
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Ozdalga E, Ozdalga AAhuja N. (2012). The smartphone in medicine: a review of current and potential use among physicians and students. J Med Internet Res.14(5):128-128.
Yoo J. H. (2013). The meaning of information technology (IT) mobile devices to me, the infectious disease physician.Infect Chemother. 45(2):244–251.