How can the use of body-worn sensors help avoid unnecessary hospitalizations?

Sonja Hansen

Workshop Coordinator

Ms. Sonja Hansen: European Project Officer at the Municipality of Aarhus. She has a BA in languages and a Diploma in Public Administration and Economics as well as a certified project manager education. She has worked with project development, coordination and fundraising since 2007, and has been engaged in several EU-networks and EU-projects. Sonja has experience in collaborating international, in both Triple and Quadruplo Helix cooperation and is member of both national and international networks and has close cooperation with the EU-system and Danish EU-offices in Brussels and their networks as ERRIN – European Regions regional international network and CORAL-network (Community of regions fro assisted living) as well as to the Commissions DG Connect and DG Sante and she is member of the EIP on AHA network (European international partnership on active and healthy ageing) and CM of the COST-action Net4Age Friendly. Besides this she is in charge of the Central Denmark Reference Site together with the region. Region Central Denmark/Aarhus Municipality is a 4 Star Reference Site.

Ivan Kjær Lauridsen

Speaker

Mr. Ivan Kjær Lauridsen: Head of Health and Assisted Livning Technology, Registated Nurse, The Diploma of Nursing Management (SD) (University of Aarhus), The Diploma in Business Administration and Organization (HD (O)) (Aarhus School of Business)Master of Public Management (MPM) (University of Southern Denmark). Long time experience as leader and cheaf in Home Care, and central administration in Aarhus Municipality. From 2011 Entirely focused on Health and assisted technology / welfaretechnology as head of department, also covering DokkX, an interactive exhibition of health and assisted living Technologies and the supply of special aids to Aarhus Municipality. Ivan´s primary focus has been to scale up the use of special aids and health an welfare technology in to create value on four bottom lines: Citizens self-reliability and quality of life, improvement of the working environment, economic efficiency and business promotion in the field.

Mettle Callsen

Speaker

Ms. Mette Callsen: Mette Callsen is trained as a nurse 14 years ago and has a master’s degree in applied philosophy and certified as a project manager. She is currently managing 5 different projects in the municipality of Aarhus with very different stakeholders. She is also part of the secretariat for the Welfare Tech Public Private Innovation Pool as a representative of the Health and Care magistrate’s department. The aim of the pool is to create value on the four bottom lines; Citizens self-reliability and quality of life, improvement of the working environment and economic efficiency and business promotion in the field.

Studies in Denmark have shown that when asked prior to one’s death, most people prefer to end their lives in the comfort of their own home and not in the hospital. But the majority ends up being hospitalized in the days leading up to their death and they die here.
The municipality of Aarhus conducted an anthropological analysis to uncover the reasons why people are not dying at home and the key finding is, that people feel safer and securer in the hospital, because there are always people around you and taking care of you. So, in order to help the people who, wish to die at home do just that, we need to make sure, that the citizen feels safe and looked after – especially when they are near death and may lose consciousness and therefore cannot call for help if needed. It is important to understand that sometimes people are dying alone in their home for different reasons (some prefer it that way or have no relatives).
So, to feel safe and looked after, we are using a body-worn sensor, who can give an alarm to the staff, based on some specific set limit values in Heart Rate Variability, Heart Rate and movement, if the unconscious citizen has a physiological reaction to pain, anxiety or discomfort. We are currently testing this in the project “Feeling safe when dying at home”. The project will also test using a camera to “check in” and having a look at the citizen, to see if something is wrong. The informed consent is secured before the citizen loses consciousness.
The project will serve as an example of one way we can use body-worn sensors to avoid unnecessary hospitalization and hopefully inspire the participants to “think outside the box” when it comes to the use of these sensors.
The purpose of the workshop is:
• To inspire the participants to expand the use of body-worn sensors and to share knowledge and ideas about how to use the sensors
The objectives of the workshop are:
• The participants are active and reflective
• The participants will obtain knowledge about the various use of a body-worn sensor
• The participants will obtain knowledge about the various target groups with the potential for using a body-worn sensor
• The participants will learn about setting goals from the perspective of the citizen
• The participants will discuss different ethical position regarding using a body-worn sensor.

The European Week for Active and Healthy Ageing is made possible by the European Commission.

Facebook-f Linkedin Twitter Youtube Instagram

The “ageing-well-week.eu” Web site (this “Site”) is comprised of global content, which relates to the international business and operations of AALA, and individual country content, which relates to the local business and operations of a member firm.

The global content on the Site is owned and operated by the AALA. The AALA is a non-for-profit organization registered in Belgium and is a member firm of AALA. AALA is a central coordinating entity and does not provide services to clients.