The Internet of Things for Dementia Care

Abstract

In this article, we discuss a technical design and an ongoing trial that is being conducted in the UK, called Technology Integrated Health Management (TIHM). TIHM uses Internet of Things-enabled solutions provided by various companies in a collaborative project. The Internet of Things (IoT) devices and solutions are integrated in a common platform that supports interoperable and open standards. A set of machine-learning and data analytics algorithms generate notifications regarding the well-being of the patients. The information is monitored around the clock by a group of healthcare practitioners who take appropriate decisions according to the collected data and generated notifications. In this article, we discuss the design principles and the lessons that we have learned by co-designing this system with patients, their careers, clinicians, and also our industry partners. We discuss the technical design of TIHM and explain why user-centered design and human experience should be an integral part of the technological design.