The Internet of Things (IoT) includes many new digital health technologies, from apps to wearable devices to home sensors - devices that are expected to revolutionize healthcare. But when will they become truly useful and usable for those with the most at stake: older adults with multiple medical problems? This is just one of the questions we will tackle on this course.

You’ll learn about how older adults and clinicians manage health problems and health pain points, and how to check up-front for the real problems seniors need technological help solving.

This course will teach you about the different aspects of developing a useful health tool. Using a detailed case study you will learn about why current digital health tools often fail and how to create digital health products that experts can recommend, and that seniors and family caregivers will find beneficial. We’ll also examine the benefits of wearable devices for telecare and telemonitoring of elderly and lonely patients.

Understand Taiwan’s health system

The Taiwanese government have several nationwide health policies, including “active ageing” and “age-friendly cities” that enjoy wide participation. We’ll review these policies and other aspects of Taiwan’s health system to see what can be learned from a system that has offered universal care and unlimited provider choice, while still keeping administrative costs under 1% of health expenditures, for the last 20 years.