Home // International Journal On Advances in Life Sciences, volume 8, numbers 3 and 4, 2016 // View article

The Real World is a Messy Place: The Challenges of Technology Use in Care Provision

Authors:
Anthony Glascock
Rene Burke
Sherri Portnoy
Shaleea Shields

Keywords: real world; intellectual and developmental disabilities; severe and persistent mental illness; eHealth; demonstration project; multiple technologies; financial impact; business decisions

Abstract:
This paper reports on the ongoing demonstration project to assess the effectiveness of three distinct eHealth technologies to contain costs, make the provision of care more efficient, and to contribute to the wellbeing of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and severe mental illness by increasing their independence. The challenges of providing care for these populations is discussed, as well as the demographic trends that will, over time, not only result in a threefold increase in the number of individuals in populations, but dramatically impact the cost of their care. Data collected from 14 different locations over the past three years will be discussed in order to determine if the selected technologies resulted in an improvement in living conditions and wellbeing, and to judge the acceptance of the technologies by both staff and customers. Findings indicate that the technologies have largely exceeded expectations resulting in plans to expand the project to other facilities, to build a new residence in which all the tested technologies will be installed and to begin to move beyond company owned facilities into residences within the community.

Pages: 222 to 232

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2016. Used with permission.

Publication date: December 31, 2016

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2660