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Senior
In-home Healthcare Goes
Remote
 If
putting your loved one into a nursing home is not the right option for
you. Perhaps, understanding and utilizing remote in-home healthcare
would be a helpful addition to the care they are receiving. There are,
of course, situations in which you need to be in the presence of a
doctor. However, with remote in-home healthcare people with long-term
illnesses or those recovering from surgery could save a few trips to
the hospital.
Remote systems utilize a wireless sensor network hooked up to a
patient. The system monitors things like activity, temperature, pulse,
blood pressure,
glucose,
weight, pain, and how drugs are responding. Normally, for a doctor to
monitor you closely you need to make many visits to their office. This
may be day after day or month after month depending on the situation.
However, even these visits won’t tell the doctor everything they need
to know. With the remote sensors you can get up-to-the-minute
information, you can get consistent information and it can be taken at
very specific intervals for optimal results.
Medication
reminders may also be programmed into the system. This may especially
be helpful for those prone to forgetting or for those that have
several medications to take. The system may also provide a more
practical way for physicians to see how certain drugs are performing
with their patients and allow them the opportunity to switch out the
medication if it is not getting the best results. Often doctors must
rely on patients to tell them how the
medicine
is performing; patients who may not always pay attention to what is
happening or may not take the medication exactly as prescribed. This
system helps eliminate those problems.
Let’s face it – healthcare is expensive and this could be one way to
cut costs. These types of systems have the opportunity to provide
patients with much more comprehensive educational content. For those
that have a lifetime illness that they will have to monitor closely,
multimedia content can be provided to develop care that is right for
them while providing them with essential information they will need to
care for themselves. While the doctor is monitoring the patient, the
system can empower patients to really manage their care and have a
stake in it.
Unfortunately, Medicare is not quite on board with the system yet.
Until they do it might be slow going to get it started. There are many
who could benefit from this type of system. It might decrease the
lines at the doctor’s office if they don’t have to constantly keep
weekly or monthly appointments with those they are monitoring. This
type of system also allows them to monitor many more people at one
time.
We want things that are easy. We don’t want to drive if we don’t have
to and we don’t want to pay for things that aren’t going to make our
lives easier. This type of system has the potential to change the face
of healthcare. Since it is a relatively new technology it may be slow
to catch on with insurance companies. However, in the future, as
technology integrates itself into our lives more and more, we may find
systems like this becoming more commonplace. We are always looking for
ways to make things easier and more affordable. Hopefully systems like
this can help healthcare make a turn for the better in the future.
About the Author:
Rebecca Beckett is a freelance writer for Innuity. If you would like
more information about
nursing home
or
in-home healthcare
go to
Great Places
Article Source:
http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Additional Information and
webpage by Paul Susic MA Licensed
Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate
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