As simple and straightforward as two health professionals conferring over the telephone or as complex and sophisticated as robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the globe, telehealth is an increasingly frequent component in healthcare. A primer on the human factors issues that can influence how older adults interact with telehealt

As simple and straightforward as two health professionals conferring over the telephone or as complex and sophisticated as robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the globe, telehealth is an increasingly frequent component in healthcare. A primer on the human factors issues that can influence how older adults interact with telehealth systems, Designing Telehealth for an Aging Population: A Human Factors Perspective examines the new ways patients and healthcare providers communicate to achieve the same or better outcomes than with traditional face-to-face healthcare. The authors examine older adult capabilities and provide standards and guidelines for telehealth design, enlivened by clinical examples and tutorials on human factors methodologies. They take a systematic look at how the use of human factors principles can facilitate the successful development, deployment, and maintenance of telehealth technology to better serve the aging population. The authors have carefully stayed away from academic writing, distilling their experience in the form of basic observations and principles drawn from their work. They include suggested readings at the end of each chapter that supply the research underpinning their recommendations. The first reference to cover older adult users in an area that will only get bigger, this book sets itself apart by providing focused coverage of the human factors issues specific to aging populations and practical advice on how to accommodate them.

This book focuses on various aspects of research on ageing, including in relation to assistive technology; dignity of aging; how technology can support a greater understanding of the experience of physically aging and cognitive changes; mobility issues associated with the elderly; and emerging technologies. The 80+ age group represents an expanding market, with an estimated worth of £21.4 billion a year. Everyone is affected by this shift in demographics – we are getting older and may become carers – and we need to prepare ourselves and adjust our surroundings for longer life. Products, services and environments have been changing in response to the changing population. Presenting international design research to demonstrate the thinking and ideas shaping design, this book is a valuable resource for designers; product developers; employers; gerontologists; and medical, health and service providers; as well as everyone interested in aging.

The two LNCS volume set 9193-9194 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2015, held as part of the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2015, held in Los Angeles, CA, USA, in August 2015, jointly with 15 other thematically conferences. The total of 1462 papers and 246 posters presented at the HCII 2015 conferences were carefully reviewed and selected from 4843 submissions. These papers of the two volume set address as follows: LNCS 9193, Design for Aging (Part I), addressing the following major topics: HCI design and evaluation methods for the elderly; ICT use and acceptance; aging, the web and social media; and the elderly and mobile devices and LNCS 9194, Design for Everyday Life (Part II), addressing the following major topics: health care technologies and services for the elderly; home and work support; smart environment and AAL; and communication, games, and entertainment.

In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. In that report, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine found telemedicine is similar in most respects to other technologies for which better evidence of effectiveness is also being demanded. Telemedicine, however, has some special characteristics-shared with information technologies generally-that warrant particular notice from evaluators and decision makers. Since that time, attention to telehealth has continued to grow in both the public and private sectors. Peer-reviewed journals and professional societies are devoted to telehealth, the federal government provides grant funding to promote the use of telehealth, and the private technology industry continues to develop new applications for telehealth. However, barriers remain to the use of telehealth modalities, including issues related to reimbursement, licensure, workforce, and costs. Also, some areas of telehealth have developed a stronger evidence base than others. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) sponsored the IOM in holding a workshop in Washington, DC, on August 8-9 2012, to examine how the use of telehealth technology can fit into the U.S. health care system. HRSA asked the IOM to focus on the potential for telehealth to serve geographically isolated individuals and extend the reach of scarce resources while also emphasizing the quality and value in the delivery of health care services. This workshop summary discusses the evolution of telehealth since 1996, including the increasing role of the private sector, policies that have promoted or delayed the use of telehealth, and consumer acceptance of telehealth. The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment: Workshop Summary discusses the current evidence base for telehealth, including available data and gaps in data; discuss how technological developments, including mobile telehealth, electronic intensive care units, remote monitoring, social networking, and wearable devices, in conjunction with the push for electronic health records, is changing the delivery of health care in rural and urban environments. This report also summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can undertake to further the use of telehealth to improve health care outcomes while controlling costs in the current health care environment.

The two LNCS volume set 9193-9194 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2015, held as part of the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2015, held in Los Angeles, CA, USA, in August 2015, jointly with 15 other thematically conferences. The total of 1462 papers and 246 posters presented at the HCII 2015 conferences were carefully reviewed and selected from 4843 submissions. These papers of the two volume set address as follows: LNCS 9193, Design for Aging (Part I), addressing the following major topics: HCI design and evaluation methods for the elderly; ICT use and acceptance; aging, the web and social media; and the elderly and mobile devices and LNCS 9194, Design for Everyday Life (Part II), addressing the following major topics: health care technologies and services for the elderly; home and work support; smart environment and AAL; and communication, games, and entertainment.

Looking towards the horizon, the US faces a significant increase in numbers of our older population, in contrast to the young able population who can provide care. It is imperative that a bridge in the knowledge gap between health technology designers, manufactures and the targeted user population occurs.