BMH Medical Journal

BMH Med. J. 2020; 7(Suppl): Early Online. Geriatrics & Gerontology Initiative: International Workshop on Care of the Elderly

Shortage of care providing man power and mechanisms is inevitable with the global increase of aged population. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has wide potential to fill in the gaps in elderly care. From wearable devices with can monitor health and emergencies like falls and trigger alerts to distant care givers, ambient monitoring for care facilities, social companions and optimizing care, companies and start-ups are stepping in to this field sensing the huge opportunity. The future holds great promise for the role of AI in the care of elderly.

Key words: Smart devices, fall detection, elderly care, social robotics

Introduction

With the aging population on the rise globally, a shortage of care mechanisms and providers is inevitable. Artificial intelligence (AI) can step in at this juncture to enable better care of the elderly. The scope of AI in geriatrics is very wide, ranging from biometric monitoring, including fall detection, early diagnosis of diseases, patient companion robots, to various other aspects of health care. This has become an area of opportunity and innovation globally, with several established companies as well as start-ups coming up with products to help the elderly, through AI.

Applications of AI in elderly care

Wearable devices with monitoring of health parameters, fall detection and remote emergency message sending mechanisms are already freely available. Home monitoring extends this concept to the living space, including elderly care facilities where AI based video surveillance systems can automatically detect anomalies like falls, behavioral changes and loss of awareness. Medication management systems can help with compliance. Social robots can step in to give company. In addition, various AI based systems are increasingly being applied to in hospital care including monitoring for early deterioration, optimizing care pathways and even facilitating capture of clinical notes from patients own speech and devices using natural language processing, simplifying the task of treating physicians.

Wearable devices

The current version of the Apple Watch has heart rate and rhythm monitoring, automatic fall detection with emergency response alert triggering, and ability to record single channel ECG. There are also devices specifically designed for elderly care. AiCare is a company that uses machine learning analytics and wearable sensor to personalize care delivery for elderly individual. Devices like fitbit help to monitor activity levels. Recently, the government of Singapore ordered fitbit for the entire population for health monitoring, which in turn could help to decide health insurance premiums. GPS SmartSole is a shoe mounted device that allows care givers to monitor the wearer’s location and activity.

There are devices, including the Apple Watch which can detect a ‘hard fall’ with high accuracy, wait for a while, and if no movement is detected, trigger a remote message to care giver or whoever has been tagged as should be triggered in such events. This is done through analyzing the acceleration and deceleration patterns of a fall. Such devices can be lifesaving in case of fall outside home with no one nearby to help.

Home Monitoring

These technologies which consist of smart devices can help elderly in various ways, especially for those with mobility challenges. Wireless Sensory Networks (WSN) consist of battery powered sensors which monitor home environment and movements and can trigger alerts when significant deviations like sudden fall are detected. The technologies used include motion sensors, contact sensors, computer vision and audio and language processing. The disadvantage is that they are less accurate and sensitive compared to worn devices, but especially in the care of patients who may refuse to wear a device, like advanced dementia, this may be the only option. Microsoft Kinect is a vision device with depth sensing and has found use in elderly care facilities for detecting falls and other anomalous states, like prolonged unresponsiveness.

Medication Management

Noncompliance to prescribed medications is extremely common and increases with the number of medications. We now have dispenser systems with intelligent sensing that can track the number of pills remaining and alert via smartphone app when it is time to refill. If a dose is missed the system can alert the user as well as caregivers. These are commercially available.

Virtual Companions

Robotic helpers can fill in the gap of skilled caregivers. ElliQ is a robotic companion that aims to keep elderly active and connect them with family. Mabu is a robot providing conversational companionship and also collects treatment related data. They can step in the gap of human to human interaction and can help to improve and maintain the psychological health of the person concerned. Various types of virtual home assistants are also being introduced, which can aid in house hold chores, like cleaning up, monitoring the environment and giving alerts both directly and remotely.

Conclusion

As mentioned in the introduction, AI in increasingly becoming a part of our reality and holds immense potential to improve the care and quality of life of elderly. The amount of research and innovation in this area is huge and the momentum is partially maintained by the prospect of building profitable business models around such devices, nevertheless the future in this regard definitely looks bright. Let us look forward to our AI companions in our later years.

References

1. How Is AI Revolutionizing Elderly Care. Shourjya Sanyal. Forbes Oct 31, 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/shourjyasanyal/2018/10/31/how-is-ai-revolutionizing-elderly-care/#1ca90857e07d

2. Can artificial intelligence care for the elderly? Tamsin Greulich-Smith. Hospital Insider. Retrieved on 21 Feb, 2020. https://govinsider.asia/innovation/artificial-intelligence-ageing-population/

3. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Elderly Care Robotics. Raghav Bharadwaj. EMERJ. Retrieved on 21 Feb, 2020. https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/applications-of-ai-in-elderly-care-robotics/

Artificial Intelligence in Geriatrics