Home telecare, medical implant, and mobile technology: Evolutions in geriatric care

With a rapidly expanding global aging population, alternatives must be developed to minimize the inevitable increase in acute and long-term care admissions to the health care system. This chapter explores the use of home telecare as an alternative medical approach to managing this growing trend, while also providing superior care to geriatric patients. To address some of the emergent disadvantages of home telecare concerning usability, self-management, and confinement to the home, the use of a cardiac implant in conjunction with a mobile device-to assist in the management of chronic heart failure in seniors-is proposed as a promising technological solution to overcoming these limitations. Ultimately, it seems that the growth of home telecare, as well as the great potential to enhance its services with the use of mobile wireless technology, stands to drastically improve clinical decision-making and management of health services in the future.