On Monday, May 5th I presented at the LeadingAge California Conference in Palm Springs and spoke about technology's role in person-centered care. Those attending the session represented a broad array of senior living settings including Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), Independent Living, Assisted Living, Long Term Care and Skilled Nursing Care Facilities.
Some of the points I made were:
- Mentioning person-centered care and technology in the same breath seems like an oxymoron. People view technology as cold and impersonal – the antithesis of person-centeredness. But, in fact, the opposite is true. Good technology can enable personal, targeted and individualized care.
- Cultural bias leads us to make assumptions and stereotype older people based on their aged appearance and limitations. It's only when you get to know the residents' life details, abilities and preferences that true person-centered care can be provided.
- Organizations must move away from a top down approach to care and move towards the goal of giving greater choice and flexibility to the people living and working in their settings.
- There are cultural and operational barriers to adopting resident facing person-centered technology. Some of these barriers include staff concerns about interference with workflow and devaluing their current work.
- One way to overcome resistance is to lead with engaging, easy to use fun technology that brings joy and smiles to residents, their families and to staff.
- We once believed the earth was the center of the universe and that the hospital was the center of care. We now know that the sun is the center of the solar system and that the person is the true center of care!
Now is the time to shake the belief that it's all about the technology. Technology needs to adjust to us, to where we are, to what we're doing. Older people have not failed to keep up with technology. At Independa we believe that technology has failed to keep up with older people. This is what drives us to continually optimize our approach to person-centered technology.
By: Dr. Richard Della Penna, Chief Medical Officer at Independa, Inc.
