Impact of Passive In-Home Health Status Monitoring Technology in Home Health: Outcome Pilot

Abstract

This paper describes a study designed to assess the impacts of passive health status monitoring technology in home health. Monitoring systems were installed in the homes of 13 home health clients to track physiological parameters (heart rate, breathing rate, and gait), the activities of daily living (ADLs) and key alert conditions of residents, such as falls. Activity reports and alert notifications were sent to professional caregivers in order to refine and target the care administered to clients participating in the study. Informal caregivers of participants were provided with access to the ongoing wellness status of their loved ones. The potential diagnostic utility of the monitoring data, the subjects' quality of life and health related quality of life, as well as the quality of life, strain and burden levels of the informal caregivers were assessed. Pre- and post-installation scores were compared. The results suggest that monitoring technologies could provide care coordination tools that have a positive impact on the perceived quality of life of monitored individuals, as well as a reduction in the strain levels of their informal caregivers, and may have a positive impact on the participants' health related quality of life