“All of us have beliefs – many of them subconscious, dating back to childhood – about what it means to get older. Psychologists call these ‘age stereotypes.’ And, it turns out, they can have an important effect on seniors’ health. When stereotypes are negative – when seniors are convinced becoming old means becoming useless, helpless or devalued – they are less likely to seek preventive medical care and die earlier, and more likely to suffer memory loss and poor physical functioning…” (Judith Graham, NYT/Herald Tribune: Older people become what they think – an interesting read.) Has anyone done any research on the psychological effect on people of offering them a pendant alarm?

Press release writers please take note: Lake Superior State University 2013 List of Banished Words. More on YOLO here.

A reader contacted me (Ed. Steve) today to say he was having problems contacting anyone from Honeywell about support for Genesis DM units – he is new to his post and has not been left contact details. The Honeywell contact for whom I have details is on leave until next Monday – and the website (http://www.hommed.co.uk/) is down. If anyone has a current contact who is available, please email me.

The Telecare Services Association’s (TSA) Board of Directors is seeking an ‘inspirational managing director’ to direct and deliver the Association’s 3 year business plan and to support the chief executive. Key challenges will be to build and maintain influential relationships with members and key external stakeholders, continue to raise the profile of the Association and to develop the business to take on the significant challenges ahead. The person appointed is expected to have skills in management and implementing change, be able to engage and influence with government departments and external stakeholders at a senior level, and be an effective public speaker. Salary £55,000 plus benefits. Closing date 11 January. Application details here.

Ann Collins is the Assistive Technology Project Manager for Brandon Trust (website) which provides homes for people with learning disabilities. She has a particular situation to deal with and would appreciate suggestions from readers. She says: “I am working on the reconfiguration of a property and am ideally looking for an integrated telecare solution for the people living there that will also accommodate the specific needs of an individual living in an adjoining self contained flat supported by the same team.

The individual needs an incontinence sensor that can be integrated into a chair. It cannot be placed under a cushion as it will be removed. It would need to be accessible so that the sensor(s) can be removed and cleaned. All wires and transmitters will also need to be hidden or remote as, if visible, they would be damaged. If the individual becomes distressed the first indication of this is that they start to tip over furniture. Is anyone aware of ways that we could use sensors (accelerometers, I assume) that would be able to detect if the furniture is turned over? Any ideas about standalone, integrated solutions or possible suppliers would be very welcome.” Leave suggestions in comments or email Ann.

Watford New Hope Trust receives CommunityPod courtesy Telehealth Solutions is an item in a local newspaper. It should have been a really positive news story for the company Telehealth Solutions and the WNHT charity but the journalist’s failure to explain what the technology does, or its benefits, has spawned a series of uninformed comments. What a pity. Heads-up thanks to Mike Burton.

Because epilepsy is such a distressing condition there will surely be a crock of gold waiting for whoever can produce a device that can reliably monitor the brain activity of people with epilepsy when at home, especially when asleep. Here is the latest effort from researchers in The Netherlands which, they say, has a (good) 90% success rate: Tele-Epilepsy and Remote Seizure Monitoring in the Netherlands Shimmer Research. (Whoever coined the term ‘tele-epilepsy’ should be sent to the naughty step until they say sorry!) Heads-up thanks to Toni Bunting.

The Chain of Trust Project is a two-year pan-European collaboration between researchers in six countries, Greece, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal and led by the Norwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine. (Website). It began in 2011 with a literature review (PDF), a survey involving patients and professionals, and country-based workshops. Its 45-page interim report Understanding patients’ and health professionals’ perspective on telehealth and building confidence and acceptance (PDF) was published in November. Unfortunately, it is not until Section 3 (page 10) that the authors who, in the previous pages frequently and consistently refer to ‘telehealth’, define the term. “Telehealth refers to the delivery of healthcare across a distance, using information and telecommunications technology and specially adapted equipment. It allows health professionals to diagnose, treat, care, assess and monitor patients without requiring both individuals to be physically in the same location” which, in our book, is mostly ‘telemedicine’. This is confirmed in the footnote to the definition which states “Telehealth is in turn an expansion of the term telemedicine”.

This lack of up-front clarity doesn’t invalidate any of the findings, of course, but it may alienate readers who feel that they have wasted half an hour trying to figure out the particular context when, with a little thought, the definition could have been placed in a box at the beginning. Grrr… [Related TA item from 4 years ago]

“FDA approval of this innovative study design is a significant milestone. Pharmaceutical companies have been worried that the FDA would not accept telemonitoring in place of costly clinic visits,” said John Holland, senior vice president for research and business development at AMC Health. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approves Remote Monitoring for Drug Trial. ThirdAge.com (3 pages)

Something other than wine for device suppliers to be mulling over the Christmas holiday season: the MHRA’s consultation about proposed changes to the European medical device directives closes on 21 January 2013. The MHRA “has been engaging with the Commission to influence its proposals as they have been developed over the last four years. We are pleased to see that they include measures that will improve the transparency, traceability, vigilance, and governance of the system, as well as the performance of notified bodies. However there are also areas of concern in the proposed regulations, notably those provisions which place additional burdens on industry and healthcare systems without a credible evidence base of the public health benefit.” For more information start here, then go here.

In addition to its usual roundup of developments and events this month, the December 2012 Telecare LIN Newsletter (PDF) also looks forward: “From April 2013, The NHS Commissioning Board will be taking forwards a number of mandated policy initiatives to start to embed digital technologies into healthcare. This will be vital as the recent Nuffield Trust reports indicate a major financial gap developing in health and social care budgets over the next ten years. In addition, Personal Health Budgets are expected to move ahead and the Department of Health is consulting on a new GP contract which could reimburse telehealth services. The first 34 clinical commissioning groups in England have been authorised.” For the list of over a 1000 news links you need the separate supplement (PDF).

Mindings (which allows family and friends to send personal captioned photos, text messages, calendar reminders, social media content and much more to a digital screen in a family member’s home) had a mixed reception from Telecare Aware readers when we mentioned it (references here) but has gone on to beat Just Checking, CareConnectMe, @UK, and Pintrack to £100,000 investment in a Dragon’s Den (Shark Tank for US readers, other country versions listed in Wikipedia) type session organised by Improvement East, in partnership with NHS Midlands and East. Innovation in Adult Health and Social Care Competition. Heads-up thanks to Toni Bunting.

Beyond the eye-catching headline for this pointer-to-the-future item, there are hints that these new chips being developed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) could be also used for detecting counterfeit drugs (if the manufacturers provided chemical markers, one assumes). Surely there are telehealth monitoring uses this could be put to? Microchip gives phones X-ray vision PSFK item. Heads-up thanks to Toni Bunting.