Perfil de idosos hospitalizados monitorados remotamente por dispositivos vestíveis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The aging process in the population may be accompanied by a higher hospitalization rate, as well as longer and slower hospital stays. Wearable Health Devices (DVS) enable continuous monitoring of an individual's health data and behavioral patterns in real time. Furthermore, these wearable devices can be a tool for preventing increased hospital stays and expanding the possibilities of interaction between patients and healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the profile of elderly people hospitalized and monitored using wearable devices. METHODS: It is characterized by being a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional research with an observational nature and a quantitative approach. The study population was made up of elderly people over 60 years of age, admitted to the hospital's ward sector, using the non-probabilistic convenience sampling method, who were hospitalized in the wards of the Alcides Carneiro University Hospital. RESULTS: A total of 27 patients participated in the study, mostly women23, with a mean age of 70.93 ± 6.61, both with a mean and standard deviation of functional classification measured by the KATZ and LAWTON scale of 5.41 ± 1.04 and 19.19 ± 5.35, respectively. The main reason for the hospitalization of these elderly patients was related to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, and the most prevalent comorbidity was high blood pressure. In relation to the average time and standard deviation of the time of using the device in patients, they were 6.67± 5.2 days. The functionality variables of these elderly hospitalized patients, such as active minutes and daily steps, had a mean and standard deviation of 2.66 ± 10.85 and 585.34 ± 611.194, respectively. Regarding the sleep variable, the elderly had an average of 253.64 ± 98.15 minutes. For statistical analysis of the data, the statistical software used was SPSS 22.0 for Windows. The normality of the variables was checked using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Variables with normal distribution were compared using the t test for independent samples and those with asymmetric distribution were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. Statistical significance was considered when P < 0.05. CONCLUSION: It was possible to identify the importance and need for a wearable device to improve the monitoring of elderly people who are hospitalized. The device is capable of identifying the possibility of functional incapacity, the patient's quality of sleep and an alert for cardiac changes in the hospital environment, providing more monitoring strategies and indicators captured by the devices' sensors, for the purposes of clinical criteria and therapeutic management.