Technology for Supporting Care Staff in Residential Homes

Abstract

Care staff, those who attend to the day-to-day needs of people in residential facilities, represent an important segment of the health-care provision of those entrusted to their care. The potential use of technology by care staff has not been a focus of researcher attention. The work reported here provides initial steps in addressing that gap, considering both the design requirements for this population and presentation of early work on a software system for use by care staff. We describe the development of a software tool for use by care staff, called Portrait, and report two studies related to factors affecting technology use by this population. The results of this research are promising, with Portrait being very positively received by care managers and care staff. Use of this software in a care home for over a month indicated continued use, with care staff returning to the system throughout the test period. The contributions of this research are the identification of factors important in working with a care staff population, the introduction and evaluation of a novel software tool for care staff in residential homes, and the highlighting of potential benefits of technology in assisting care staff. ACM Reference Format:Webster, G. and Hanson, V. L. 2014. Technology for supporting care staff in residential homes. ACM Trans.

<p>Effectiveness of Digital Technologies to Support Nursing Care: Results of a Scoping Review</p>

“…They all yield positive results, but the level of evidence is low. [104][105][106][107] Target Group Specific Interfaces The accessibility of a technology or a technological device is pivotal for its usability. Sometimes technologies cannot fulfil their potential, or produce negative outcomes because their interfaces are not user-friendly enough.…”

Innovation to enhance health in care homes and evaluation of tools for measuring outcomes of care: rapid evidence synthesis

“…All of the 38 UK studies were published after 2010. They comprised 14 reviews or reports relating to technology and care homes, 21,22,[27][28][29]35,83,96,99,170,208,234,254,267 three case studies, 80,134,246 three qualitative studies, 115,124,194 two observational studies, 16,139 one pilot RCT, 277 one protocol, 45 12 descriptive studies 58,59,71,109,113,123,188,195,207,223,242,284 and two opinion pieces. 34,53 Telehealth and surveillance technologies were both the subject of six articles, 16,71,113,115,195,234 and single articles were identified on gaming, 125 robots, 80 digital records 134 and communication technologies.…”

Robot deployment in long-term care

“…The growing number of older people in industrialized countries increases pressure on healthcare systems to provide care that is both affordable and meets the emotional and physical needs of older persons. In this context the integration of information technology holds promise of supporting caregiving processes: for example, assistive technology has been developed to provide reminders and empower individuals to live independently in their own homes [ 20 ], to encourage older adults to participate in preventative therapy [ 28 ] or software systems that can support staff in care facilities [ 29 ]. Findings from case studies (e. g. [ 6 ] and [ 29 ]) suggest that information technology is suited to support informal carers and professional care provides alike who are looking to provide quality care to aging populations; however, an important aspect that needs to be considered particularly when discussing the potential of information technology to support long-term care, are challenges that arise from the practical deployment of new technologies in caregiving environments.…”

“…In this context the integration of information technology holds promise of supporting caregiving processes: for example, assistive technology has been developed to provide reminders and empower individuals to live independently in their own homes [ 20 ], to encourage older adults to participate in preventative therapy [ 28 ] or software systems that can support staff in care facilities [ 29 ]. Findings from case studies (e. g. [ 6 ] and [ 29 ]) suggest that information technology is suited to support informal carers and professional care provides alike who are looking to provide quality care to aging populations; however, an important aspect that needs to be considered particularly when discussing the potential of information technology to support long-term care, are challenges that arise from the practical deployment of new technologies in caregiving environments. While assistive technology for older adults has made big advancements in the last few years, for example, the development of companion robots [ 2 ] and more comprehensive, intelligent systems to support home care (e. g. ambient-assisted living systems utilizing voice interaction as proposed by Portet et al.…”

“…The results of the project revealed that inviting residents to engage with technology in a social setting was problematic (e. g. participants felt self-conscious), suggesting that factors emerging from technology deployment in the environment of the specific care facility and abilities of residents need to be considered in addition to general aspects relating to the accessibility of technology for older adults. Addressing the needs of staff rather than directly focusing on those of older adults, Webster and Hanson [ 29 ] investigated the benefits of a software support system for staff in long-term care, suggesting that it could be of substantial assistance when interacting with residents by providing individual background information on resident needs for members of staff.…”