Aging & Technology: A realistic look at the challenges of using health IT

MaryAnne Sterling Shannah Koss The fast pace of evolving technology has awed most of us over the past two decades. Remember the first iterations of the mobile phone? We chuckle when we think back to these clunky oversized early versions when compared to the smart phones of today. Tech has come a long way. But when it comes to technology accessibility and usability for seniors, we are still in the dark ages. Even worse, we have failed to adapt health information technology to the needs of seniors, who traditionally have more health challenges and would benefit the most from using it. We discovered many obvious and not-so-obvious examples of this during a recent focus group conducted to elicit feedback on our health information technology pilot project in Maryland. We are working with a residence for low-income seniors and the disabled. A few observations: 1) Some of our most notable realizations had to do with the common assertions about seniors as ‘patients’, particularly individuals with complex healthcare needs and their ability to be engaged. Not only do they want to be engaged, they are open to the technology-based platform and often have technology access in their homes, in addition to community computers provided by the residence. Our participants highlighted that few, if any, of their healthcare providers ever ask them to be engaged or are willing to engage with them, online or face-to-face, on anything other than the episodic focus of a given visit. 2) Without a h...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Aging Technology Source Type: blogs