A Solution for the Remote Care of Frail Elderly Individuals via Exergames

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are a concrete answer to many needs in the healthcare framework since they enable remote support for patients and foster continuity of care. Currently, frail elderly people are among end users who most need and would benefit from IoT solutions from both a social and a healthcare point of view. Indeed, IoT technologies can provide a set of services to monitor the healthcare of the elderly or support them in order to reduce the risk of injuries, and preserve their motor and cognitive abilities. The main feature of IoT solutions for the elderly population is ease of use. Indeed, to fully exploit the potential of an IoT solution, patients should be able to autonomously deal with it. The remote-monitoring validation engineering system (ReMoVES) described here is an IoT solution that caters to the specific needs of frail elderly individuals. Its architecture was designed for use at rehabilitation centers and at patients’ homes. The system is user-friendly and comfortably usable by persons who are not familiar with technology. In addition, exergames enhance patient engagement in order to curb therapy abandonment. Along with the technical presentation of the solution, a real-life scenario application is described referring to sit-to-stand activity.

The future of care and healthcare provision to communitydwelling disa-bled elderly people in an ageing society

“…This can be evaluated and supervised remotely, without the need for scarce medical staff to be constantly present with the patient, and without the requirement for the patient to be transported back and forth, which is expensive and may be difficult to organize [41]. commercial voice assistants, such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa can be in used connection with integrated IoT-based systems that monitor physical activity to actively prevent sedentary lifestyles [42] and overweight or obesity [14] in the elderly, sometimes by using the gamification of physical exercise [43].…”

Closing the Gap between Inpatient and Outpatient Settings: Integrating Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Technological Advances in the Comprehensive Management of Frail Patients

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, several frail patients became isolated at home with detrimental consequences in terms of their functional status and social participation [ 58 , 59 ]. Therefore, in recent years a growing interest in telehealth and telerehabilitation solutions that might improve healthcare delivery in frail patients is observed [ 60 , 61 , 62 ].…”

“…To date, several telemedicine programs were recently proposed to improve both screening and therapeutic intervention in frail patients suffering from pathological respiratory conditions [ 60 , 61 , 62 ]. In particular, telehealth exercise interventions and digitally supported territorial health networks were effectively introduced to overcome barriers to in-person medical assistance [ 60 , 61 , 62 ].…”

A Study Protocol for Occupational Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis

“…From the IoT viewpoint, ReMoVES has a classical four-layer architecture, as described in detail in [29], which is briefly summarized in the following.…”

“…With the aim of improving the patient's quality of life and increasing the opportunities for contact with the multidimensional medical team, STORMS is based on the ReMoVES IoT system developed at the University of Genoa and described in previous works [24]. Designed to provide remote tests for the assessment of patients' impairments and to provide exercises to support motor/cognitive rehabilitation, ReMoVES has already been tested on neurological [25][26][27] and rheumatic patients [28] as well as on the elderly [29].…”