The Use Of Smart Glasses In The Elderly Wound Care: A research project and design proposal on the contribution of Smart Glasses to the elderly wound care

With an ageing society and fewer people willing to work in healthcare, the pressure on the healthcare sector is growing. And next to that, the high workload increased even more with the COVID-19 pandemic. Next to these factors increase, caregivers need to make numerous decisions each day, is their work emotionally demanding and though to be done. When continuing to work in this way, the quality of care provision will decrease. Therefore technical solutions, like Smart Glasses, can be a way to reduce these high pressures and maintain or even improve the quality of care. The company 1Minuut already offers an option with Smart Glasses to make knowledge easily, safely and everywhere available to the care provider. Two different Smart Glasses, the VuzixM400 and Google Enterprise 2, and their software Genzõ are already used in several elderly care organisations. Smart Glasses are mainly used to let an expert, like a wound specialist, remotely watch clients from another location. A nurse wears the Smart Glasses, and when video calling with the device, the expert can remotely watch along. This project focused on two parts. First, the current use and experiences of Smart Glasses (mainly of 1Minuut) are explored and researched. The second part of the research consisted of developing a design proposal of how Smart Glasses can contribute to supporting caregivers in elderly wound care. The first part started with explorative activities in the context of Smart Glasses. A better understanding was created of how the Smart Glasses and Genzõ of 1Minuut are working, are used, and by whom. Then literature research was performed to obtain more information on the experiences of other Smart Glasses users and researchers. Furthermore, two questionnaires and interviews were conducted by seven participants (clients of 1Minuut) who had all experiences with using Smart Glasses in the actual context of elderly care. A content analysis method was used to analyse the interviews. The project also concentrated partly on what is happening in the elderly (wound) care sector. So when coming up with a proposed design, in the end, this design would contribute to something that can improve or make the work of the elderly care staff easier. The main results of the study were that Smart Glasses do offer many advantages, especially for the person watching along and the clients. Less effort needs to be made when experts can see an elderly client remotely, and time will be saved. Nurses receive expertise on distance and can act faster, which improves the provision of care for the elderly. However, Smart Glasses are not yet fully used. This is mainly because there are not yet that many opportunities with and features for the Smart Glasses. In addition, nurses do not yet experience what is really in it for them. Some, especially elderly nurses, find it challenging to control. In conclusion, it takes them more time than it benefits them. Therefore nurses do not use the Smart Glasses much and choose the old manner. Furthermore, current users mainly use the Smart Glasses when a call is scheduled. They mention that good communication between the nurse and the expert at a distance is essential, as is the reason for use. Therefore an implementation plan is necessary. The second part of the study focused on proposing a design for how Smart Glasses can support caregivers in elderly wound care. In a short 5-step design sprint, a reporting tool for the Smart Glasses was proposed. This feature helps nurses report wounds with the Smart Glasses by voice. Smart Glasses wearers will be guided through different steps of the report. Closed questions are presented about the wounds, and commonly used answers are shown, which can be selected by saying the answer out loud. There is always an option to add another answer or report at another moment. Reporting can happen now directly in the client’s room after the nurse has finished the tasks. When finished reporting, it will be automatically uploaded to the client’s information file. This makes reporting more accessible, faster and more consistent.Design for Interaction | Medisig