Nursing Homes Go High-Tech

mattlary writes "Here's an interesting article about a tracking system being installed in a retirement community. The system can track where residents are anywhere in the campus, and also uses cameras to keep an eye on residents. The community also contains numerous sensors so staff can track residents' activity."

big brother

[Anonymous Coward]

big brother is watching grand uncle.

Can't wait until I get old...

[nametaken]

"Sensors on refrigerator doors that automatically notify staff when residents are up and active each day, replacing older methods such as "check-in" buttons or paper cards on doorknobs."

I hope when I'm that old I'll still keep bizarre hours. It'll keep the staff on their toes.

Grandma loves the tag

[facts]

I wanna be the first boy on the block to have an RFID tagged granny!

I just hope...

[Gamma_UCF]

..that the nursing home never gets any retired slashdotters there. I'm sure the tin foil would be missing from the tops of the dinner trays and quickly turned into hats...

Bah Humbug

[Anonymous Coward]

In my day, we didn't have young whippersnappers such as yourselves tracking us with your whositz and your whatnots. We tied onions to our belts, each person a different colored onion. Yessir, that's how they tracked us. Onions. Now, back then you couldn't just get onions anywhere. Nosir. You had to hop the So'easter heading to Fayettesvile. That's where the onion factories were.... First you had to get past the guards ndnmsa,sdnfffsf snorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.

Re:what TFA didnt mention

[abulafia]

IMHO the most valuable part of a system like this would be the ability to trigger an alarm if patients cross a pre-defined boundary.

We already have useful systems for handling this [radiofence.com].

Personally, I want behavioural adjustment collars for my clients to wear...

I'm sure my tongue is somewhere near my cheek.

Bowels Open ???

[Anonymous Coward]

As a doctor whos worked in a few resthomes the thought of them going high tech has always amused me.

One thing about nurses is that they often keep detailed record of things. For example all nursing notes tend to keep a recorded of how many times a persons bowels have opened during the nurse's shift. eg.

BNO = bowels not opened
BO x 2 = bowels opened twice

As these places become more high tech and have nursing notes placed in databases amazing facts of information about people will be able to be gleamed.

For example, you could find out that Mr X had 480 peices of toast in the last twelve months, and that he opened his bowels 250 times... and that he tended to open his bowel in morning after having 2 peices of toast for breakfast, not his normal one.

I'm sure the department of homeland security could make brilliant use of such information!!!

Re:what TFA didnt mention

[ErichTheWebGuy]

Can I get a "behavioural adjustment collar" for the end-users at the office? Please?

end-user: My Windows OS locked -- [bzzzzzt]
me: what was that?
end-user: My computer is [bzzzzzzzzt]
me: i'm sorry, what?
end-user: just called to say what a great job you are doing :)

Oh, yeah. I'd pay thousands for that system....

Re:Conspiracy theories r us

[gnuman99]

Time to put on my aluminum (shiny side out!!) burka!!

Re:Grandma loves the tag

[Anonymous Coward]

I wanna be the first boy on the block to have an RFID tagged granny!

Mommy! Grandma is at the strip joint again!

So it's no longer Big Brother...

[Sielle]

So it isn't Big Brother that's watching us any more, it's Young Whipper Snapper? They keep making things so difficult to follow.

Slashdotters in fifty years....

[sockonafish]

Where's my tin-foil colostomy bag?