A Smart Telecare System at Digital Home: Perceived Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Expectations for Healthcare Professionals

Sensors, combined with intelligent systems, can enhance the quality of the Telecare services deployed at home, improving the capability for detection of risk situations and the users care. However, there are no specific studies that evaluate this kind of Telecare systems by professionals that work i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Laura Vadillo, María Luisa Martín-Ruiz, Iván Pau, Rafael Conde, Miguel Ángel Valero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2017-01-01
Series:Journal of Sensors
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8972350
Description
Summary:Sensors, combined with intelligent systems, can enhance the quality of the Telecare services deployed at home, improving the capability for detection of risk situations and the users care. However, there are no specific studies that evaluate this kind of Telecare systems by professionals that work in a Telecare center. This paper shows the results of an assessment of the current satisfaction and future expectations of the Telecare professionals when using advanced Telecare solutions deployed at home. The study has been conducted through structured interviews with 24 Telecare experts working in the Telecare center of the Spanish Red Cross for attending alarm calls for elderly people. The interviews had the support of the TALISMAN Telecare system that is a next-generation Telecare service deployed in the accessible digital home of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. All participants showed overall satisfaction with TALISMAN and their intention to use it. Results showed that perceived usefulness is an important influencing factor to the intention to use it and the Quality of the Information is a key factor in the perceived usefulness. TALISMAN, as an example of a next-generation Telecare system, is seen as a tool with high potential for improving the care of elderly people at home.
ISSN:1687-725X
1687-7268