Leaders across industries continue to eye relevant use cases for automation and artificial intelligence to improve business operations.
That includes the senior care sector, where there’s a lot of potential for organizations to deploy emerging technologies to support staff members and attract residents, says Dusanka Delovska-Trajkova, CIO at Ingleside, a provider in the Washington, D.C., area.
“A few years ago, Ingleside embarked on a digital transformation journey,” she says. “We identified areas that were taking up our employees’ time with repetitive, manual processes. So, it’s crucial to evaluate your current environment before even talking about AI.”
In a HealthTech interview, Delovska-Trajkova discusses areas for new processes in senior care, incorporating feedback from staff and residents, and the future of personalization.
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HEALTHTECH: What are common misconceptions about adopting new technologies in senior care?
DELOVSKA-TRAJKOVA: One common misconception is that older adults are not ready for technology or are not interested in adopting new technologies. We know this is an outdated perspective, as recent surveys point to older adults increasingly adopting technology. Digital access has become an integral part of their lives, and when they don’t have access, they may miss out on opportunities to age in place or live more independently. They may also feel more isolated as they miss out on the benefits of being more connected. Now, digital equity is actually healthcare equity. Many times, older adults cannot get access to healthcare because they don’t have access to technology.
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HEALTHTECH: What emerging technologies and processes are senior care providers most interested in this year?
DELOVSKA-TRAJKOVA: Automation can free up more time for meaningful work. One example would be with cleaning and dining robots to support our staff. Dining robots can help carry heavy dishes, but there’s a learning curve to working with them. It requires training.
Another area would be the use of AI for recruiting and HR, such as with predictive analytics on employee retention and tailoring job descriptions to make them more dynamic and agile.
I think senior care is also interested in customer service virtual agents. We’re used to chatbots in retail and finance, and I think there are opportunities in senior living.
Ingleside learned that it needed more staff training when it added dining robots to workflows.
AI can also be useful for supply chain optimization. The pandemic really exposed issues in supply chain management. As AI continues to develop, predictive maintenance could be used to optimize costs and better track what equipment needs replacing and which supplies need refilling.
From a resident’s point of view, I think AI can help create a more personalized experience. We could provide residents with more customized newsletters, activities or menus, for instance. How can we use AI to better support the resident experience? How can we adapt assistive and accessibility technologies using AI to residents’ needs? That would be a huge benefit in senior care.
HEALTHTECH:What learnings or end-user feedback has helped you adjust to roadblocks when deploying automated solutions?
DELOVSKA-TRAJKOVA: One example comes from implementing the dining robots. There was a perception that our younger staff members would intuitively know how to use them — but that wasn’t the case, and there was a workflow issue. The human staff members did not think of the robots as part of their team, so we had to have better training and education to remind our staff that the robots were there to make their jobs easier and support them. We had to rethink some of our processes to create a more seamless workflow.
A lesson from our residents was on improving communication. We thought we were anticipating their needs well, but again, that wasn’t the case. We had to have tough conversations about how to improve communication. Since we work in our communities and don’t live in them, it was important to hear directly from residents about their experiences.
HEALTHTECH:Where do you think AI will have the most impact for senior care organizations in the next few years?
DELOVSKA-TRAJKOVA: Senior care is changing along with evolving consumer expectations. We’ve moved from primarily focusing on care to overall lifestyle. Personalization is top of mind. AI offers a huge opportunity to make that customization happen for personalized self-enrichment.
Our training could use more simulators, much like in pilot training. That can help improve our industry. Electronic health records management and interoperability remain a top issue in healthcare, and senior care is no different. This is where federal and state agencies can also step in to establish standards for interoperability and EHR certificates.
DISCOVER: How are senior care organizations using tech to attract and retain staff?
HEALTHTECH:What future projects is your organization working on?
DELOVSKA-TRAJKOVA: I think smart home technologies are a huge opportunity for senior living. They not only bring satisfaction to older adults, but they can also ease maintenance for staff. Such technologies do require investment, which is why we as an organization need to align closely with the needs and wishes of our staff and residents. For example, smart toilets that can connect to an EHR and establish a baseline for a resident so that staff can appropriately respond when something out of the ordinary happens would be a game changer. Smart care is something that Ingleside is very much looking to adopt in the future.
