Healthcare executives are lying awake at night worrying about staff shortages. This is a conclusion that emerges from the Future Health Index 2022. The annual survey conducted by Philips among 3,000 healthcare managers in 15 countries – including the Netherlands – also outlines how healthcare managers expect technologies such as AI and predictive analytics to help solve problems in healthcare (such as costs and care outcomes).
Evidence shows that, in the long-term care sector at least, the acceptance of healthcare technology is higher than one might think.
Read more about this at The Future Health Index 2022 (Global Report)
Faster acceptance of care technology needed
That technology can provide a solution to the labor shortage in the healthcare sector is a well-known fact. We would therefore prefer the adoption and implementation of care technology to move faster than it does at present. This will avoid a situation where we are forced to adopt certain technologies without having been able to get used to them or participate in their development. It’s like shutting off the gas: you have to discuss this in advance, before suddenly turning off the gas supply overnight.
Co-design
Henk Herman Nap, Digital Care expert at Vilans: “Fortunately, clients and nursing homes are particularly receptive to technological support. For example, in the case of incontinence. Incontinence care is not pleasant. Technology can ensure that you are disturbed twice a day instead of six or seven times. Something like that also improves the peace and quiet on the ward. Especially here, I think the client is more likely to accept the introduction of care technology than the care staff.
Another example can be found in the Dutch municipality of Haarlemmermeer where a tablet for seniors was introduced to combat loneliness. Of the 150 people who received this tablet, 75 percent wanted to continue using it. Not an iPad, but a tablet designed for seniors. This is co-design: you have to design it so that it is easy to use and that the user is involved in the design process from the beginning.
