What Features and Functions Are Desired in Telemedical Services Targeted at Polish Older Adults Delivered by Wearable Medical Devices?—Pre-COVID-19 Flashback

Abstract

The emerging wearable medical devices open up new opportunities for the provision of health services and promise to accelerate the development of novel telemedical services. The main objective of this study was to investigate the desirable features and applications of telemedical services for the Polish older adults delivered by wearable medical devices. The questionnaire study was conducted among 146 adult volunteers in two cohorts (C.1: <65 years vs. C.2: ≥65 years). The analysis was based on qualitative research and descriptive statistics. Comparisons were performed by Pearson’s chi-squared test. The questionnaire, which was divided into three parts (1-socio-demographic data, needs, and behaviors; 2-health status; 3-telemedicine service awareness and device concept study), consisted of 37 open, semi-open, or closed questions. Two cohorts were analyzed (C.1: n = 77; mean age = 32 vs. C.2: n = 69; mean age = 74). The performed survey showed that the majority of respondents were unaware of the telemedical services (56.8%). A total of 62.3% of C.1 and 34.8% of C.2 declared their understanding of telemedical services. The 10.3% of correct explanations regarding telemedical service were found among all study participants. The most desirable feature was the detection of life-threatening and health-threatening situations (65.2% vs. 66.2%). The findings suggest a lack of awareness of telemedical services and the opportunities offered by wearable telemedical devices.

The Experiences of People with Dementia and Informal Carers Related to the Closure of Social and Medical Services in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study

“…In Poland, older adults, including people with dementia, are often alienated from technological progress [ 75 ], which causes difficulties in benefitting from remote support provision [ 6 , 76 ], including social and medical care. To date, knowledge about and usage of telemedicine in Poland have been limited [ 77 ]. Testing this solution suddenly and widely during the lockdown has highlighted barriers to its successful implementation [ 49 ].…”

“…Further qualitative research can, for example, involve focus group discussion on the issues identified but insufficiently elaborated in the analyzed interviews. Such an example could be remote communication in dementia care—a topic which, although present in earlier research [ 77 , 83 ], takes on a new meaning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 76 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. Another issue worth exploring further in a quantitative design is coping strategies classified as a sub-theme of psychological response.…”

Wearable Sensing Devices: Towards the Development of a Personalized System for Construction Safety and Health Risk Mitigation

“…The "right function(s)" is largely dependent on the end-users and beneficiaries of the WSDs (i.e., field workers and management staff). The need for personalized wearable monitoring has recently come to the forefront in construction and adjacent industries, which share some similarities [17,33,34], necessitating the need to explore the types of WSD function that workers are open to having and the minimum number and type of functions needed for the management to make informed decisions (and functions that justify investing in WSDs) before implementation [35]. It is, therefore, important to assess if the design of WSDs should incorporate functions that provide personal feedback of sensitive (or private) information, predominantly physiological metrics, to the primary users (i.e., workers) and non-sensitive information (such as environmental metrics) to secondary users (e.g., safety manager) so that appropriate actions and interventions can be taken by concerned parties to prevent potential injuries or accidents.…”

Cardiovascular and Pre-Frailty Risk Assessment during Shelter-In-Place Measures Based on Multimodal Biomarkers Collected from Smart Telemedical Wearables

“…We believe that data from wearable devices (such as smartwatches or fitness trackers) can be an auxiliary tool to assist teleconsultation with primary care physicians, especially in emergencies or health crises, because they may collect health data in the home setting, which can play an essential role in patient diagnosis or screening. Our previous work focused on investigating the desirable features and applications of telemedical services for the older adults delivered by wearable medical devices [ 3 ]. At present, smartwatches and fitness trackers are used to quantify physical activity and sleep quality with the primary goal of improving overall health.…”