DNP 805 Evaluation of Health Care Technology

Sample Answer

Nursing practice has formed a critical part of patient care in the past years and at present by adapting to the ever-changing patient care landscape. There has been an increased call for better and improved patient care making the stakeholders explore options that can result in better results.

One such strategy that has gained attention and momentum is the technology and technological applications (Wu & Luo, 2019). Technology has largely been used in the health care sector to enhance disease diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and management.

The implication is that patient care, treatment, and disease management have greatly improved over the years, preventing several death cases. With continued innovation and invention, more and better technological applications are likely to enter the patient care environment to make the processes even better.

As such, the purpose of this paper is to explore a technology that has been studied in this course, explore the measurement and evaluation of its elements, and the user interfaces evaluation. In addition, this write-up will explore the determination of the functionality of the technology and any possible improvements.

The Identified Technology

Several technologies and technological applications have been explored in this course. Therefore, the chosen technology to be addressed in this assignment is assistive technologies for older adults. These are technologies that have been invented to help older individuals have better outcomes by preventing falls, using alarms to detect their movements, and ensuring that they are safe from harm, among others.

Among such assistive technologies for older individuals are smart homes (Pirzada et al., 2018). Smart homes are created in such a way that the home environment contains devices that help in monitoring the individuals. Such monitoring improves their independence and enhances their life quality.

The Elements Measurement and Evaluation

As earlier indicated, smart homes improve older adults’ independence and quality of life. Therefore, a smart home has various elements, for example, smart devices. Smart devices are used to enhance smart home functionality. These devices include device switches, plugs, lighting, speakers, cameras, appliances, accessories, and sensors.

The evaluation of these smart home elements is undertaken by considering how best they enhance the smart home functionality (Pal et al., 2018). The gateway is one of such elements. A gateway is a hub, controller, or bridge that connects with smart devices like WiFi.

Evaluation can also be done based on how well the elements are capable of communicating with the smart devices and controlling activities. Among the most common gateways are WiFi, IR, Zigbee, Ethernet, Z-wave, and Bluetooth. The other element is user communication strategies, including the use of smartphones, voice assistants, sensors, and automation.

Servers are also used in storing and retrieving information which may be evaluated by how well and efficiently they help the user to retrieve information (Pal et al., 2018). Some types include Home Assistant, Amazon Server, and Apple Home Kit.

Evaluation of the User-Technology Interface

The user interface or human-machine interface is one of the factors that have to consider when designing a technology to be used by human beings. It refers to an information exchange platform between the technology system and the user.

The smart home also has a user interface with elements that can be evaluated. One of them is easy to learn and use (Pal et al., 2018). This refers to whether the users can easily learn and operate the smart home functionalities.

The next one is its operation which may entail how easy it is to remember. User satisfaction is another important element, and it measures how levels of satisfaction the technology bring to the users, which in this case is the level of satisfaction regarding the use of smart homes.

Error frequency and magnitude are other elements to be considered. It refers to the number of errors that occur and how serious the errors are. Interactive efficiency is another important element. This element refers to the application of technology to fulfill specific tasks.

Assessment For Functionality

Smart homes play a critical role in older individuals’ health and life as they promote better health outcomes and better living. The implication is the smart homes’ user interface should be formulated to help fulfill the safety needs and perform particular tasks as needed.

To enhance the interaction, various interfaces can be used. One of them is input controls such as buttons, text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, toggles, and date fields (Hargreaves & Wilson, 2017).

Navigation components are also critical, and they include breadcrumb, slider, the pagination search field, tags, and icons. In addition, there are informational components such as tooltips, icons, progress bar, notifications, message boxes, and modal windows.

Assessing these elements is important as they help in determining the functionality. For example, one can tell the technicality of a user interface by looking at the input controls. Smart homes are majorly formulated for elderly individuals; therefore, the user interface needs to be as simple as possible.

The optimization of smart home use for better results may mean that older adults have to navigate the functionalities to achieve specific tasks. The implication is that elements used for navigation, such as icons, should be representative and clear to enhance their ability to navigate and interpret the system (Hargreaves & Wilson, 2017).

Complex navigation bars the user from using some of the best functionalities which could have been of good use. Therefore, their use is limited, or they are not used at all. Informational components like the tooltips, progress bar, and message boxes, among others, can also be at the center of assessment. Therefore, their design should also be as simple as possible for better manipulation.

For example, in the case of an error message, especially a technical error, the user should be able to effortlessly trace the message in the message box and appropriately act on the same (Hargreaves & Wilson, 2017). Such is only possible with a simple design.

However, in cases where the informational components have complexities, then the user may miss critical system warnings, notifications, and messages, which can lead to poor functions.
Suggestions for Improvement

Even though the discussed smart homes improve the elderly’s health outcomes, some of its components and elements can be adjusted or improved to make them better. The elements that can be improved include smart devices such as switches, plugs, lighting, speakers, cameras, appliances, accessories, and sensors.

One of the possible improvements is procuring quality smart devices that will have few technical issues or errors (Demiris et al., 2017). The end result is enhanced functionality of the system. The gateway is a major component of the smart home; hence it needs to be of high quality and not error-prone.

Therefore, it should be acquired from trusted suppliers. In addition, security is key in such systems. Therefore, the devices used as part of the system, such as smartphones, need to have security enhancements to bar potential access by unauthorized individuals.

Conclusion

Smart homes are one of the most common assistive technologies for older individuals who usually have more health complications, compromised gait and balance, and reduced mobility. Therefore, this assignment has explored smart homes and their components. The components need to be efficient to improve the functionality. In addition, the user interface should be simply built to enable elderly individuals to navigate the system and perform specific tasks.

References

• Demiris, G., van Hoof, J., & Wouters, E. (2017). Handbook of smart homes, health care, and well-being. Springer International Publishing.
  Hargreaves, T., & Wilson, C. (2017). Smart homes and their users. Cham Springer International Publishing
  Pal, D., Funilkul, S., Charoenkitkarn, N., & Kanthamanon, P. (2018). Internet-of-things and smart homes for elderly healthcare An end-user perspective. IEEE Access, 6, 10483-10496. https //doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2808472
  
• Pirzada, P., White, N., & Wilde, A. (2018, April). Sensors in smart homes for independent living of the elderly. In 2018 5th International Multi-Topic ICT Conference (IMTIC) (pp. 1-8). IEEE. https //doi.org/10.1109/IMTIC.2018.8467234
  
• Wu, M., & Luo, J. (2019). Wearable technology applications in healthcare a literature review. Online J. Nurs. Inform, 23(3). https //www.himss.org/resources/wearable-technology-applications-healthcare-literature-review