Participative development of a new technological tool for supervision of older adults in nursing home: The e-monitor’age project example

Abstract

Nursing homes for older adults are increasingly confronted with older persons with long-term care needs and increased dependence while care staff number is increasingly restricted [1] . The e-monitor’age project aims at improving organization of care, well-being and security of residents. It is based on the development of a system of intelligent supervision which aims at improving the global efficiency of these establishments in order to allow an increased availability of the care staff. The development of this technology is based on a participative approach: the end-users needs are the starting point. Three focus groups were organized in each nursing home which participates to the project in order to collect the needs of the future users: medical and direction staff. The collected data were then analyzed and allowed to write the functional specifications of the project. Focus groups highlighted that help to supervision of the residents in difficult situations is essential and that the feeling of insecurity and need of support are major at night. Three objectives were retained for the development of the system: security of residents, discomfort and prevention on the long-term. The major originality of this work is the multidisciplinary approach: the project involves academic researchers, industrialists and medical staff. This participative conception is based on a close collaboration between all the actors. One of the most important factors for a successful development of such technology is the analysis of end-users needs [2] . Unfortunately such a work which actively involves medical staff is very rare [3] , that's why our project is particularly original.