The use of digital technologies among older Australians is on the rise, and technology is seen as a critical part of the transformation of aged care. The 2022 ARIIA survey identified technology in aged care as a priority topic for the Australian aged care workforce. This was also highlighted in discussions with the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) and other leading aged care stakeholders.
The Knowledge and Implementation Hub has gathered evidence of best practice, along with learning and practical resources, on two critical issues relating to technology in aged care: testing frameworks for introducing technology and human factors associated with technology in aged care settings. The content has been developed through a comprehensive research process, including a scoping review of published literature describing the human associated with technology uptake in aged care, a rapid literature review of best practices for selecting, testing, and implementing technology in aged care settings, and an environmental scan of high-quality, freely available resources in Australia to support the learning and practice needs of the sector. You can find information for more than 90 resources that were identified during the environmental scan in the Knowledge & Implementation Hub Resource Collection.
From this review, we identified recurring human factor ‘themes’ within the evidence. These themes are provided as short summaries of the evidence to support the knowledge and practice needs of the aged care workforce:
- Attitudes towards robots
- Attitudes towards telehealth*
- Cybersecurity concerns
- Dementia and technology*
- Ethics and technology
- Maintaining dignity*
- Privacy and safety*
- Quality of human interaction
- Staff technology training
- Technology acceptance*
- Technology usability.*
Two frameworks were identified that provide a structured approach to introducing technology to the health or aged care workplace: the NASSS Framework and the CeHRes Roadmap. We identified five themes by integrating these frameworks:
- Technology needs assessment
- Creating a business case
- Implementing technology*
- Monitoring use over time
- Developing new products.*
* Theme coming soon
This new topic is now available on the Knowledge and Implementation Hub.
We welcome feedback and additions to our resources and content. Please get in touch with us at kih@ariia.org.au
