Caregivers play a fundamental role in looking after people suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other cognitive illnesses. They often have close personal relationships with service users and their families and are intimately involved in their families. At the same time, agencies are under increasing pressure to increase service quality against a background of public…
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be embedded in everything we know in the healthcare system: it is going to help surgeries, will make patient recovery easier, it will help in our decisions regarding finances, administration, HR in the healthcare system. AI will allow us to focus on the high-value items. The low-value items will be taken…
Healthcare data involves a wide variety of public and private data collection systems such as enrollment and billing records, health surveys, medical records, and administrative enrollment records. Physicians, hospitals, and health plans heavily rely upon this information when managing and treating patients. Digital tools have completely revolutionized the way patient data is collected. Take online…
Just as technology increasingly features in everyday home life, advances in ICT are presenting major opportunities to advance the delivery of health care for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients in their own homes. Helping people stay in their own homes for longer is a key objective for patients, families and healthcare professionals. Being cared for at…
In the summer of 2018, a US a teenager’s story about a lifesaving Apple Watch alert made it to the national headlines. The seemingly healthy 18 years old girl was sitting in church when the watch alerted her: the heart rate is extremely high. Her parents rushed her to the hospital, where they found out…
Medicine could and can happen outside the hospital. We build medical centers that provide the best specialists and the best care for patients. However, these medical centers are out of reach for many people for different reasons: they live too far from them; they are old or sick to travel to these institutions. Health IT…
People living with dementia, Alzheimer’s or in general people who have a genetic predisposal to these cognitive diseases can train their brains to delay the onset of the problem. We can teach our mind not with physical exercise, of course, but with games and activities that mobilize our neurons. However, before we write about our…
Dementia is affecting large numbers of people and is a significant burden for society. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia affecting 50-70 % of all patients. There is also a considerable impact on those caring for family members with Alzheimer’s or other dementia which may cause emotional stress and depression, especially on…
A network of internet-enabled devices is far better than a single IT device. Combined with artificial intelligence (AI) and an IT system with carefully selected, well integrated elements, a unique network helps people with dementia improve their lives. In Surrey, UK, more than 6000 people have a formal diagnosis of dementia, although it is estimated…
Everywhere I look, I see people with smartwatches, fitness bands on their wrists. I don’t get to see the most representative sample of the population, as I work mostly with tech-savvy people. However, an increasing percentage of this non-representative sample is from the older generation. They seem to understand and benefit from the benefits of…
I used strong words in my blogpost’s title on purpose. Of course, there is no such thing as an “elderly epidemic,” and IT is not a cure-all diseases solution for our senior citizens. As a strong advocate of IT, I think that advances in healthcare and IT make it possible for our parents and grandparents…
I remembered the other day an old joke, from my early childhood. The doctor comes out from the operating room cheerfully saying: the surgery went well, the patient died. I couldn’t quite get it. How can this all be true in one sentence? A successful surgery surely should mean, that the person seeking treatment is…
Measures taken against coronavirus pandemic have showered us with several actions reflecting trends which were already present, but were not so relevant before. One such trend is using Home Office, which brings several changes in corporate IT procedures. First of all, we need to give secure VPN connection to (almost) every team members, to access…
Business CEO’s and startup founders are usually too busy to lead a health-conscious lifestyle, we often think. But what happens if your business has a mission to improve people’s health by transforming everyday lifestyle? As a CEO/Founder, can you represent these values if you have BMI of 29, rely on snacks during working hours and…
International cooperation can support digital transformation in healthcare in many ways. However, healthcare is special when it comes to digital transformation. A global industry in a locally regulated and locally managed service domain While ICT is probably the most global industry on Earth, with global supply chains, global players and global standards, healthcare is still…
After fundamental changes in several sectors and industries, digital transformation now means rapid changes in healthcare. Digital treatments, automated patient education, big data analysis or sensor-supported patient monitoring are all part of the change. Except for a few cases, most of the changes seem to be technology-led, while it would be crucial to involve medical…
Millions of patients enter their doctors’ office every day around the world seeking information on how to better manage their diabetes. And while getting information on blood glucose trends can be helpful, patients are largely on their own the moment their appointment is over. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) enters the picture. Imagine getting real-time…
Are you in the group who can benefit from a remote IT/software department? As promised, let’s have a closer look at those groups who can get maximum benefit from outsourced IT services of a small specialist team. Is your organization in one of these groups? Industry specialists under the radar of big IT companies Your…
Digital transformation has reached almost every industry sector. Industry 4.0 (such as IT-assisted manufacturing and robotics), digital health, eGOV public services, smart buildings and smart environments, IT-assisted transport and logistics (from driverless underground trains to self-driving cars, automated warehouses and new generation of drones), virtual reality, new forms of gaming and entertainment, to name a…
Data collection via IT tools in the healthcare industry isn’t a terribly new concept, but it’s still something that hospitals and clinics have yet to fully take advantage of. With that being said, a new law set to came into effect in May 2018 may change the way industries across the board collect and manage…
After three years of intensive collaboration, the ICT4Life project concluded with visible and hopefully lasting effects on the everyday life of patients living with cognitive impairments. As a technology partner, NETIS provided the necessary IT background for its eight partners, connecting patients and healthcare professionals with user-friendly ICT tools. For example, NETIS developed a digital…
Did you know, that every year, a Boston based organization, T1Dexchange organizes Diabetes Innovation Challenge? The challenge brings together diabetes innovators and patients, gives birth to a lot of fresh ideas for diabetes therapy. Winners were announced in last May but work on the prototypes and selected ideas begun earlier. Last year’s winner is a…
„Elderly people need caring humans first, not just sensors and technology” – I read in many comments under articles about technology support tools to combat challenges of an ageing society. It is true that technology does not replace caring relatives and friends – but several elderly people cannot count on daily help of family and…
Whenever we talk to older adults, they express one universal wish: they would prefer to age in their homes instead of moving into nursing homes. However, they are also aware that chronic illnesses like dementia would shatter this dream. Thanks to a robot developed by scientists from Washington State University, this wish could become a…
SME’ solution, Enterprise File Fabric securely unifies disconnected data nodes in the company, regardless where data is stored – on premise or in the cloud – while providing a transparent data view for easy data audit, compliance, and governance. Before the world of internet data management of businesses was relatively easy, as everything was stored…
No doubt, spread of diabetes reached an epidemic proportion, with nearly 10% of the adult population suffering from this chronic disease. Better medicine means longer survivor period in this population and translates to self-care fatigue, where pricking the finger eight times a day is no longer a viable alternative. Advances in technology opened a new…
Excuse my enthusiasm, but there is no better time than the present (except maybe the all-digital future) to be a medical student. At Stanford University, students are using VR headsets to see inside an infant’s beating heart to explore congenital heart defects. Medical students can walk around inside a beating heart, manipulate it and observe…
It was not too long ago that patients only had one source of information for all of their health care needs – their personal doctor. Once upon a time patients had to rely entirely on their doctors and nurses to manage their diseases, monitor their symptoms, personalize their care and so much more. However, today’s…
Last Christmas I had the idea to give everyone a piece of smart technology: a smart plug, that controls whatever is plugged into it. I thought it would be a nice gesture to my not so techie relatives, to familiarize them with a glimpse of intelligent tech. The idea turned into a terrible one this…
Technology is here to help us improve in every aspect of our lives. VR solutions are finding their way into the field of medicine: an Australian company developed a VR solution to help people with dementia, and a Dutch development helps hospitalized people stay in touch with their school or loved ones. Do you fancy…
Each new year a plethora of IT gadgets are flooding the show floor at the Consumer Electric Show, in Las Vegas. We picked up this year’s five best health gadgets. Omron Heart Guide, blood pressure monitor The gadget’s first debut was in 2018, but it took one year for the FDA to approve the monitor….
In 2012 then FBI-director Robert Mueller observed: “There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that will be.” Health organizations deploying multiple IT applications must be aware of the dangers IT security poses and review their security policy regularly. Healthcare is the most vulnerable sector when it comes to…
I always say that technology is not for the sake of technology. It’s here to help people live a better and fulfilled life; even whey are suffering from chronic diseases. Lately, I came across many examples of how artificial intelligence is used by different healthcare institutions to make patients’ lives better. In my post, I…
During my summer holiday, I stayed at a small hotel, where the owner, a collector of old technology devices, proudly showed me his one and only, still working jukebox. It was made in the 1960 ’s and to my surprise, this was one of the early devices, that gathered data on a microchip: it recorded…
In my last post, I wrote about mainstream health IT products, technologies that can improve lives of our older relatives, friends. There are also a lot of products and solutions for many individual problems: for older adults with a hand tremor, there is a special spoon with a stabilizing handle to help enjoy meals together…
In one of the latest post, we wrote about our belief, that IT solutions could help seniors to live a happy and comfortable life. We also promised to go over, what kind of solutions and technologies are ready to use for this purpose. So, let’s start right away! Wearable fitness devices As components are becoming…
During a holiday, I visited a nearly 500-year-old pharmacy – located in Kolozsvár, Transylvania. This facility today is a museum and gives us a glimpse what healing meant in those days. Medication covered in gold leaves, powders and substances of unknown origin (to us), oddly shaped glass vessels, laboratory instruments, old pharmacy furniture, recipes of…
In our case, this power translates to preventive health. As I always say, if meticulously collected medical data is available, then it is only a matter of imagination the results derived from it. I stumbled across a study in the prestigious Nature magazine that justifies my theory, that data collected with the help of health…
Automation, wearable tech and integration in dementia care helps carers to focus on face-to-face human interactions. Across Europe, populations are ageing and with that, cognitive impairment is becoming a serious issue. The number of people suffering from dementia is rising rapidly: in 2015, almost 47 million people worldwide had been diagnosed. By 2050, that number…
A whole new industry is emerging: gamification is promising us younger brains and dementia prevention. We tested gamification in the ICT4life project, where NETIS is a proud member. My retired father is an avid lover of crosswords, but since I gave him my old iPad, he discovered a new way of keeping his 74 years…
Blockchain technology is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions efficiently, permanently, and in a verifiable manner. This technology is used across many industries, mainly the financial sector, food safety, logistics, but also in healthcare. Blockchain technology reduces complexity, enables easy collaboration, and creates secure and immutable information. This technology has the potential to…
Personalized healthcare, big data, and artificial intelligence are the most significant trends shaping the future of healthcare – according to Netis Informatics Ltd., the expert solution provider of health IT solutions. According to the American Medical Association, personalized healthcare is formed by each person’s unique clinical, genetic and environmental information. Unfortunately, traditional health care doesn’t…
A myriad of healthcare apps helps patients to live a comfortable and quality life through their chronic illnesses. Our infographic compiled by Netis Informatics Ltd. reveals all relevant data about mobile healthcare apps in the UK. Nearly 75% of people in the UK go online for health information and advice, and 66% use a mobile…
The Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease mostly affects the elderly. In Europe, half of the people over 80 are living in their own home, so if they lose their autonomy due to dementia, they need immediate intervention from their environment. Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as other cognitive and dementia-related illnesses directly affect 44 million people…