[The Development of Early Warning Systems for Home/Community Elderly Care].

Abstract

With Taiwan now an "aged society", home safety for older individuals has become a very important issue. The purpose of establishing early warning systems in homes and/or communities is to generate and disseminate meaningful warning information to medical institutions or rescue units in a timely manner so that they may take timely and appropriate action. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the current application of information and communication technology (ICT, especially the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence) in early warning systems for home and community care. Two approaches to developing these systems are introduced: instant detection and prevention monitoring. Instant detection facilitates fall detection and personnel tracking, while the focus of prevention monitoring is on preventing falls and physiological status monitoring. The challenges faced by in incorporating ICT into these early monitoring systems are discussed as well.