Six Ways Technology Can Make Caregiving Easier
Welcome back! If you’re like me, technology plays a big role in your life that it didn’t have ten or fifteen years ago. But technology, thus far, has made only modest contributions to supporting caregivers, the legions of family members and friends who help sustain elderly, disabled, sick and recovering patients. With that in mind, the National Alliance for Caregiving recently brought together a panel of national experts and government officials to identify ways technology can improve and advance the field. I’m thrilled to be able to share this info with you here today. The panel examined how technology can play a more meaningful role to make caregiving easier and, and how innovation can be accelerated to develop new applications to support caregivers.
The group offered six recommendations on how technology can make caregiving easier:
Find more appropriate language to describe the varied and complex caregiving landscape.
The report said widely held but simplistic perspectives on caregiving impede needed innovations. Good models of caregiving and appropriate language are needed to enable a better understanding of caregiving and to catalyze innovation.
Continue to collect extensive data about the prevalence, burden, and impact of caregiving and the role of technology.
There is a lack of research on family caregivers, especially as technology dramatically impacts caregiving. We need more current, thorough and accurate data about the diversity of caregiver roles and responsibilities. About what daily caregiving involves, its challenges, and how much it impacts those around the caregiver. Such data is necessary to develop business plans and evaluate solutions.
Initiate a broad national conversation on caregiving.
A national discussion is necessary to raise consciousness of caregiving issues and its social and economic impacts. And also to explore what kinds of responses are necessary and feasible. Entrepreneurs will be much more inclined to develop new approaches if there is widespread attention on the topic.
Develop compelling business cases for employers and healthcare providers to support caregiving.
Employers and healthcare institutions have an ideal position to help family caregivers. But they require clear business plans to justify their taking action.
Provide caregiving coaching as an integral component of all solutions.
Caregivers often lack the time to learn about technologies that may be useful to them. As a matter of fact, coaches who are knowledgeable about available technologies and can take the time to understand each family’s unique situation would make it possible for caregivers to get the full benefits of technology solutions.
Inspire social conversations about caregiving to encourage more learning and support within families and communities.
Most caregivers work in isolation. That not only deprives them of emotional support from others, but also means that people do not learn from each other’s experiences and knowledge. We need to develop new ways to make conversations about caregiving more normal and less taboo.
These are some great suggestions! Therefore, technology has the potential to make caregiving much easier and effective. It can be particularly useful by helping them to coordinate the demanding tasks and the complex networks of relationships involved with caring for others.
In fact, if you’re like me, you know that these common sense recommendations are a great way to start supporting caregivers. So count me in!
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