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Background non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium are useful in hospitalised older adults. However, they are poorly implemented in clinical practice. We aimed to develop a software for bedside use by hospitalised older adults and to improve their access to these interventions. Methods a transdisciplinary team composed of healthcare professionals, designers, engineers and older adults participated in the development of the software. Scrum methodology was used to coordinate the work of the team, and the software was evaluated in a feasibility study. Results a software for touchscreen mobile devices that supports Android 5.0 or later was produced, including modules for time-spatial re-orientation, cognitive stimulation, early mobilisation, sensorial support use promotion, sleep hygiene and pain management optimisation. Horizontal disposition, use of colour contrast and large interaction areas were used to improve accessibility. The software's usability and accessibility were evaluated in 34 older adults (average age 73.2 ± 9.1 years) showing that 91.1% of them got access to all the software functions without previous instructions. The clinical feasibility assessment showed that 83.3% of the 30 enrolled hospitalised patients (76 ± 8 years) completed the 5-day protocol of software usage during hospitalisation. Software use was associated with a decreased trend in delirium incidence of 5 of 32 (15.6%) at baseline to 2 of 30 (6.6%) after its implementation. Conclusion a highly accessible and implementable software, designed to improve access to non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium in hospitalised older adults, was developed. The effectiveness of the software will be evaluated in a randomised clinical trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the interest of industry, government agencies and healthcare professionals in technology for aging people has increased. The challenge is whether technology may play a role in enhancing independence and quality of life and in reducing individual and societal costs of caring. Information and communication technologies, i.e. tools aimed at communicating and informing, assistive technologies designed to maintain older peoples' independence and increasing safety, and human–computer interaction technologies for supporting older people with motility and cognitive impairments as humanoid robots, exoskeletons, rehabilitation robots, service robots and companion-type are interdisciplinary topics both in research and in clinical practice. The most promising clinical applications of technologies are housing and safety to guarantee older people remaining in their own homes and communities, mobility and rehabilitation to improve mobility and gait and communication and quality of life by reducing isolation, improve management of medications and transportation. Many factors impair a broad use of technology in older age, including psychosocial and ethical issues, costs and fear of losing human interaction. A substantial lack of appropriate clinical trials to establish the clinical role of technologies to improve physical or cognitive performances and/or quality of life of subjects and their caregivers may suggest that the classical biomedical research model may not be the optimal choice to evaluate technologies in older people. In conclusion, successful technology development requires a great effort in interdisciplinary collaboration to integrate technologies into the existing health and social service systems with the aim to fit into the older adults' everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]