Long-Term Care System Analysis

The long-term care system consists of an integrated continuum of many institutional and non-institutional providers who deliver extended care when needed. Long-term care providers deliver a variety of care to individuals with chronic, mobility and/or cognitive impairments/limitations. These providers include: nursing facilities, sub acute care, assisted living, residential care, elderly housing options and community based adult services (Pratt, 2010). A great majority of these providers are already taking care of the many baby boomers that are present today and will be present in the future. “Baby boomers” are individuals who were born between the years 1946-1964. Since 2011, every day 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 years old (Pratt, 2010). This

Only about one half of all older adults (ages 65 and older) use email addresses or the internet, compared to 90% of those 18-64 years old who use email addresses or the internet (Older Adults, Technology, and the Future of Long-Term Care, 2015). The later age group is the future, indicating that they will be the most tech-savvy and prepared for the tech adjustments in long term care. The middle aged technology consumers of today are the older adults of tomorrow. Currently, older adults characterize the fastest growing age group of technology users in the country, and these rates will continue to increase every year (Tak et al, 2010). Therefore, in order for long term care to survive and attract baby boomers as its consumers, it must change. The change begins with the use of technology. Technology should assess, help, become accustomed to assist in cognitive and functional abilities, catalyze instead of replacing socialization, and use recognizable interface (Leventhal, 2014). In the future, savvy older adult consumers will be comparing facilities technology, allowing them to establish a competitive drive among facility administrators to upgrade their services. The use of technology within long term care will present the likelihood of doing more services with less manpower and administrative costs. The hands that have done paper work and performed non-skilled tasks

The main type of assistive technology of the future is the use of personal care robots. These robots are machines that resemble human-like characteristics/intelligence. The robots will be controlled by voice command and assist seniors in daily tasks at home, such as activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living (Bernard, 2014). Robots allow for the opportunity to resolve dilemmas of understaffed nursing homes or assisted living communities, providing care to older adults whose names are on a waiting list for facility care. A robot, known as the Paro Robot, has been developed and tested within the field of long term care. This therapeutic robot costs $6,000.00 and was developed by Japan’s Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (Older Adults, Technology, and the Future of Long-Term Care, 2015). The steep price of this robot further allowed for the creation of a cheaper form of robotic care that will be used for the future of long term care. Japan’s Advanced Institute for Science and Technology created the $100.00 robot pet, which can be used as animal therapy. This type of therapy confers lots of benefits to the health and well being of older adults, without the risk of infections, bits, etc. These robots