Abstract
BackgroundThe world is experiencing a dramatic increase in the aging population, challenging the sustainability of traditional care models that have relied on in-person monitoring. This debate article discusses whether artificial intelligence health monitoring may be suitable enhancement or replacement for elder care.Main textInternationally, as life expectancy continues to rise, many countries are facing a severe shortage of direct care workers. The health workforce is aging, and replacement remains a challenge. Artificial intelligence health monitoring technologies may play a novel and significant role in filling the human resource gaps in caring for older adults by complementing current care provision, reducing the burden on family caregivers, and improving the quality of care. Nonetheless, opportunities brought on by these emerging technologies raise ethical questions that must be addressed to ensure that these automated systems can truly enhance care and health outcomes for older adults. This debate article explores some ethical dimensions of using automated health monitoring technologies. It argues that, in order for these health monitoring technologies to fulfill the wishes of older adults to age in place and also to empower them and improve their quality of life, we need deep knowledge of how stakeholders may balance their considerations of relational care, safety, and privacy.ConclusionIt is only when we design artificial intelligence health monitoring technologies with intersecting clinical and ethical factors in mind that the resulting systems will enhance productive relational care, facilitate independent living, promote older adults’ health outcomes, and minimize waste.
Highlights
As life expectancy continues to rise, many countries are facing a severe shortage of direct care workers
The world is experiencing a dramatic increase in the aging population, challenging the sustainability of traditional care models that have relied on in-person monitoring
What can artificial intelligence (AI) health monitoring do for older adults? Many commercial devices and systems, including those that are built into smartphones that are readily accessible to mass consumers, already collect wellness data that can provide a snapshot of an older adult’s general lifestyle
Summary
What can AI health monitoring do for older adults? Many commercial devices and systems, including those that are built into smartphones that are readily accessible to mass consumers, already collect wellness data (e.g., physical activities, dietary information) that can provide a snapshot of an older adult’s general lifestyle. Knowledge regarding what general health and activity information older adults would like to have collected (and not collected), whether or how they might wish to interact with the technologies and the data as part of self-management, and what information they would like to share (and not share) with family members, professionals, and external commercial entities can clarify how older adults may balance considerations of privacy, confidentiality, convenience, and independence related to AI home-based health monitoring Partnering with these stakeholders in designing the implementation of health monitoring technologies may help to yield new insight on how older adults may use these automated platforms to facilitate aging in place, what types of tradeoffs they might consider (e.g., privacy vs safety benefits), and how these technologies may affect therapeutic encounters and relationships [59]. Since a major goal of developing AI health monitoring technologies is to provide continuous and actionable information, research regarding what family and professional caregivers consider to be high-value information that can facilitate effective beside care, long-term care management, and therapeutic alliance to improve health outcomes would be pertinent
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