Page 110 - Petelin, Ana, and Šarabon, Nejc. 2018. Eds. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Znanstvena monografija / Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 110
avje starostnikov | health of the elderly 110 expectancy is prolonged, many elderly people are facing dependency on oth-
ers, frailty impairment and one or more chronic diseases, which seem to be
an almost inevitable consequence of these demographic changes. Frailty - »a
multidimensional syndrome characterized by decreased reserve and dimin-
ished resistance to stressors« (Rodríguez-Mañas et al., 2013) - seems to be high-
ly prevalent among elderly persons, while its prevalence is estimated to be be-
tween 5 % and more than 45 % depending on the definition and age group
(Veninšek and Gabrovec, 2018).
Solutions and services, adapted to elderly people and supported by the in-
formation-communication technology (hereinafter referred to as ICT), seem
to significantly contribute to facing population's demographic ageing (Vollen-
broek-Hutten et al., 2017), and also to potentially contribute to health care sys-
tems' transformation towards patient-centered and integrated care, which meet
the needs of the elderly (World Health Organization, 2015).
So far, there have been many ICT solutions that demonstrate benefi-
cial outcomes for the elderly. They seem to play an important role in pro-
viding more accessible, of better quality and safer health care (Beard and
Bloom, 2015), overall well-being, quality of life and empowerment of the el-
derly (Keränen et al.,2017), as well as in their improved health and social par-
ticipation (Beard and Bloom, 2015). ICT can also play an important role in
supporting complex care of frail older people in terms of screening, assess-
ment, monitoring and follow-up (Kelaiditi, 2016).
There has been an important step made towards ICT implementation in-
to several healthcare services, as well in the field of elderly care. However, we
seem to face some challenges regarding the implementation, namely potential
ICT tools without proven clinical effectiveness and service adoption (Jansen
- Kosterink et al., 2016), low system usability and lack of personalization and
flexibility (Peruzzini and Germani, 2014), as well as greater, but still limited,
technology adoption by the elderly, among which many don't believe ICT can
greatly improve the quality of their lives (Heart and Kalderon, 2013).
Methods
Between March and June 2017, literature review was conducted using PRIS-
MA protocol (Moher et al., 2010) and search within PubMed, Cochrane, Em-
base, UpToDate and CINAHL databases. We used several combinations of key
words in English language, chosen from the list, proposed by the ICT task lead-
ers in the frame of Joint Action Advantage, in which National Institute of Pub-
lic Health co-leads the work package that deals with managing frailty at an in-
dividual level together with Greek University of Patras. Peer-reviewed journal
papers, international documents, standards, guidelines, and EU research stud-
ies published between 2002 and 2017 were included in the review. Furthermore,
grey literature, namely unpublished or hard to find publications, reports, PhD
theses etc. were included in the review, whereas the list of these grey documents
ers, frailty impairment and one or more chronic diseases, which seem to be
an almost inevitable consequence of these demographic changes. Frailty - »a
multidimensional syndrome characterized by decreased reserve and dimin-
ished resistance to stressors« (Rodríguez-Mañas et al., 2013) - seems to be high-
ly prevalent among elderly persons, while its prevalence is estimated to be be-
tween 5 % and more than 45 % depending on the definition and age group
(Veninšek and Gabrovec, 2018).
Solutions and services, adapted to elderly people and supported by the in-
formation-communication technology (hereinafter referred to as ICT), seem
to significantly contribute to facing population's demographic ageing (Vollen-
broek-Hutten et al., 2017), and also to potentially contribute to health care sys-
tems' transformation towards patient-centered and integrated care, which meet
the needs of the elderly (World Health Organization, 2015).
So far, there have been many ICT solutions that demonstrate benefi-
cial outcomes for the elderly. They seem to play an important role in pro-
viding more accessible, of better quality and safer health care (Beard and
Bloom, 2015), overall well-being, quality of life and empowerment of the el-
derly (Keränen et al.,2017), as well as in their improved health and social par-
ticipation (Beard and Bloom, 2015). ICT can also play an important role in
supporting complex care of frail older people in terms of screening, assess-
ment, monitoring and follow-up (Kelaiditi, 2016).
There has been an important step made towards ICT implementation in-
to several healthcare services, as well in the field of elderly care. However, we
seem to face some challenges regarding the implementation, namely potential
ICT tools without proven clinical effectiveness and service adoption (Jansen
- Kosterink et al., 2016), low system usability and lack of personalization and
flexibility (Peruzzini and Germani, 2014), as well as greater, but still limited,
technology adoption by the elderly, among which many don't believe ICT can
greatly improve the quality of their lives (Heart and Kalderon, 2013).
Methods
Between March and June 2017, literature review was conducted using PRIS-
MA protocol (Moher et al., 2010) and search within PubMed, Cochrane, Em-
base, UpToDate and CINAHL databases. We used several combinations of key
words in English language, chosen from the list, proposed by the ICT task lead-
ers in the frame of Joint Action Advantage, in which National Institute of Pub-
lic Health co-leads the work package that deals with managing frailty at an in-
dividual level together with Greek University of Patras. Peer-reviewed journal
papers, international documents, standards, guidelines, and EU research stud-
ies published between 2002 and 2017 were included in the review. Furthermore,
grey literature, namely unpublished or hard to find publications, reports, PhD
theses etc. were included in the review, whereas the list of these grey documents
