Did Aldous Huxley prove himself to be an unerring prophet when he wrote the utopia „Brave New World“ in the 1930s? For many of the technologies he described, which at the time still went beyond the state of the art, have now become reality. In Germany, for example, digitisation has also found its way into nursing care.
Digital helpers, which could not have been imagined in the past, have long since been found not only in nursing homes and old people’s homes – they are also used in home care. But how much digital technology is helpful and desirable? Are call detectors, sensor mats, motion and fall detectors sufficient or must it be telemedicine for therapy monitoring, GPS transmitters for dementia patients or Pepper?
Even simple but well thought-out technology can be health-promoting or used to conserve resources. The individual height adjustability of nursing beds alone not only makes it easier for residents to get in and out; it also enables nursing staff to work in an upright rather than stooping posture with less strain on their backs, whether when dressing patients or taking care of their bodies. In addition, integrated bed scales save patients from having to lift themselves in and out unnecessarily. Some beds are also designed to help mobilize and transfer patients to a wheelchair. This also considerably reduces the physical strain on the nursing staff during patient transfer.
Digitisation – Technologies with voice control
But bedridden patients also benefit from technology and digitization in the room and around their care bed. In nursing homes, for example, it can be helpful to use technologies with voice control similar to Alexa or Siri to make it easier for patients to switch music on and off independently or to open and close windows. By using such modern technologies, patients can be freed to a certain extent from dependence on others, which many residents welcome. In addition, there are other innovations that make it possible to operate the patient call with the help of voice control or a tablet and thus express wishes, for example for painkillers.
