Kosin Med J.  2023 Mar;38(1):21-27. 10.7180/kmj.22.131.

Remote health monitoring services in nursing homes

• Kim J
• Kim H
• Im S
• Park Y
• Lee HY
• Kwon S
• Choi Y
• Sohn L
• Oak C

• KMID: 2540758
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7180/kmj.22.131

Abstract

Aged people are challenged by serious complications from chronic diseases, such as mood disorder, diabetes, heart disease, and infectious diseases, which are also the most common causes of death in older people. Therefore, elderly care facilities are more important than ever. The most common causes of death in elderly care facilities were reported to be diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pneumonia. Recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have a great impact on blind spots of safety where aged people were isolated from society. Elderly care facilities were one of the blind spots in the midst of the pandemic, where major casualties were reported from COVID-19 complications because most people had one or two mortality risk factors, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Therefore, medical governance of public health center and hospital, and elderly care facility is becoming important issue of priority. Thus, remote health monitoring service by the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) sensors is more important than ever. Recently, technological breakthroughs have enabled healthcare professionals to have easy access to patients in medical blind spots through the use of IoT sensors. These sensors can detect medically urgent situations in a timely fashion and make medical decisions for aged people in elderly care facilities. Real-time electrocardiograms and blood sugar monitoring sensors are approved by the medical insurance service. Real-time monitoring services in medical blind spots, such as elderly care facilities, has been suggested. Heart rhythm monitoring could play a role in detecting early cardiovascular disease events and monitoring blood glucose levels in the management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, in aged people in elderly care facilities. This review presents the potential usefulness of remote monitoring with IoMT sensors in medical blind spots and clinical suggestions for applications.

Keyword

Nursing homes; Remote health monitoring service; Super-aged society

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Demographics of a super-aged society. Proportion of aged population.

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  Fig. 2. Age and sex relationships with clinical severity during hospitalization or isolation from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

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  Fig. 3. Diagram of governance of public and private partnerships.

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  Fig. 4. Illustration of a remote health monitoring service for an elderly care center.

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  Fig. 5. Remote-monitoring care services from an elderly care center to a general hospital. EKG, electrocardiograms.

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  Fig. 6. Remote-monitoring care system for aged people for rapid responses to infection, cardiovascular disease, and poor sugar control.

Reference

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