A Family Caregiver’s Guide to Electronic Organizers, Monitors, Sensors, and Apps

This new online guide helps family caregivers evaluate technologies created for them. The guide presents questions family caregivers should consider when deciding whether to buy an electronic product or service to assist with the care of their family member.

 

A Family Caregiver’s Guide to Electronic Organizers, Monitors, Sensors, and Apps is the latest addition to the library of 30 guides for family caregivers found on UHF’s Next Step in Care website (www.NextStepInCare.org), which helps family caregivers and health care providers work closely together to plan and implement safe and smooth transitions for chronically or seriously ill patients. With guides and other tools for both family caregivers and health care providers, the website emphasizes careful planning, clear communication, and ongoing care coordination.

 

The guide helps caregivers think through a range of key questions: What problem are you trying to address? What do you and your family member want from this technology? What will it cost over time? And can—and will—an older person or someone with disabilities use the technology? 

 

The guide features sections focused on popular types of technology: organizers of health information, scheduling and communication tools, personal emergency response systems, and monitoring devices for inside and outside the home. The guide also includes a list of terms and definitions and ways to learn more about technology.

 

The new guide is free and available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. It is available at http://www.nextstepincare.org/Caregiver_Home/Technology/.