Abstract
Background:The effective care and support of community healthcare nurses (CHNs) contribute greatly to the healthy aging of older adults living at home. Integrating innovative technologies into CHNs’ daily practice offers new opportunities and perspectives for early detection of health issues and interventions among home-dwelling older adults.Aim:To explore the perception of acceptability among CHNs of an intelligent wireless sensor system (IWSS) for use in daily practice for the detection of health issues in home-dwelling older adults receiving home healthcare.Method:Descriptive and qualitative data were sourced from a pilot randomized controlled trial involving 17 CHNs using an IWSS in their daily practice to rapidly detect falls and other health issues in patients’ homes. IWSS alerts indicating behavior changes were sent to CHNs. Their perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) were assessed. The acceptability of IWSS technology was explored using a questionnaire and focus group discussions.Results:The PU and PEOU of the IWSS technology were low to moderate. A majority of the CHNs were dissatisfied with its performance and intrusiveness; they reported multiple obstacles in the usefulness and ease of use of the IWSS technology in daily practice.Conclusion:To improve the IWSS technology’s low to moderate acceptability among CHNs, we recommend a more user-centered implementation strategy and an embedded model of nursing care.
Highlights
By 2020, Switzerland’s population will have about 1.2 million older adults [1]
We aimed to explore the perceived acceptability (PU and perceived ease of use (PEOU)) of an intelligent wireless sensor system (IWSS) in the daily practice of referent community healthcare nurses (CHNs) caring for homedwelling older adult patients
Perceived ease of use for the IWSS received the lowest rate of satisfaction, whereas the understandability of the IWSS software scored highest
Summary
By 2020, Switzerland’s population will have about 1.2 million older adults [1]. The majority of home-dwelling older adults wish to live in their own homes for as long as possible, even when they have significant healthcare needs [2]. Innovative technological development is occurring in parallel to this substantial demographic transformation [3] These emerging technologies could help community healthcare nurses (CHNs) to continuously monitor the health status of home-dwelling older adults facing physical and cognitive decline and enable them to remain safely in their homes [4, 5]. Embedded sensor devices and innovative technology can clearly help nurses detect health issues early [6] They could be useful for evaluating nursing interventions among home-dwelling older adults that are aimed at preventing acute physical decline and monitoring chronic diseases, with the ultimate goal of keeping them in their homes longer [7]. Integrating innovative technologies into CHNs’ daily practice offers new opportunities and perspectives for early detection of health issues and interventions among home-dwelling older adults
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