An IoMT-based geriatric care management system for achieving smart health in nursing homes

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an Internet of medical things (IoMT)-based geriatric care management system (I-GCMS), integrating IoMT and case-based reasoning (CBR) in order to deal with the global concerns of the increasing demand for elderly care service in nursing homes.

Design/methodology/approach

The I-GCMS is developed under the IoMT environment to collect real-time biometric data for total health monitoring. When the health of an elderly deteriorates, the CBR is used to revise and generate the customized care plan, and hence support and improve the geriatric care management (GCM) service in nursing homes.

Findings

A case study is conducted in a nursing home in Taiwan to evaluate the performance of the I-GCMS. Under the IoMT environment, the time saving in executing total health monitoring helps improve the daily operation effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the proposed system helps leverage a proactive approach in modifying the content of a care plan in response to the change of health status of elderly.

Originality/value

Considering the needs for demanding and accurate healthcare services, this is the first time that IoMT and CBR technologies have been integrated in the field of GCM. This paper illustrates how to seamlessly connect various sensors to capture real-time biometric data to the I-GCMS platform for responsively supporting decision making in the care plan modification processes. With the aid of I-GCMS, the efficiency in executing the daily routine processes and the quality of healthcare services can be improved.

Citation

Tang, V., Choy, K.L., Ho, G.T.S., Lam, H.Y. and Tsang, Y.P. (2019), "An IoMT-based geriatric care management system for achieving smart health in nursing homes", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 119 No. 8, pp. 1819-1840. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-01-2019-0024