Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
notes/calendar notations, or accessing the Internet. It was as if he had never seen an iPhone
before. He literally could not remember how to do any of the functions. James admitted
that he was never very technologically savvy and has never fully embraced or kept abreast
of computer technology development.
Because of the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease in which he has difficulty
learning and retrieving new information, we decided to delve more into items that were a
part of his past as a younger man or child. This approach led us to various types of paper/
hard-copy notebooks and calendars.
Research has shown that even in the most advanced cases of Alzheimer's disease, keep-
ing a calendar readily visible and marking off each day is vital to helping keep people
with this disease oriented to time and date. James chose to use a basic wall calendar by the
kitchen door that has simple, mostly unadorned squares to write his work schedule and
medical appointments. For use of a notebook, he chose a smaller notebook 8.5 × 5.5 with
a discrete black binder. He stated he will not use this AT device at work because of his
specific work duties, he does not feel it is necessary, but he has agreed to use it at home for
daily tasks and important instructions.
We have also been working on modifying existing technology to fashion a locator device
for smaller objects such as eye glasses and a cell phone. The currently available products
are based on a remote control locater that is synced with a receiver tag, about the size of
a nickel or quarter, which can be hung on a key ring or the receiver can be attached with
double-sided tape to a smoother surface like an eye-glass case. This has the potential to
work fine if James remembers to replace his glasses in their case, which most of the time
he does not. Both of these receiver devices are too large to attach to the actual eye glass
frames or too bulky to attach to a cell phone. In researching the currently available prod-
ucts, most got mixed reviews at best. The main problems included that the audible signal
(beeping) was not loud enough or did not work until you were within a couple of feet of
the lost item (even when they were advertised to work within 25 feet) or the item was too
complicated to program or set up. In working with the engineer member of our technol-
ogy team, he suggested and did some research on RFID (radio frequency identification
tag) technology. This is the same system that is used in large department stores to prevent
shoplifting. Inventory is tagged with an RFID label that is deactivated by scanning during
the checkout and what triggers the door alarm when the label is not deactivated properly.
This technology is promising for this application because the labels can be made very thin
and small; however, cost-effectiveness is an issue. The smallest labels are relatively inex-
pensive at less than $5 each, but they are made by a different company than that which
makes the receivers, which can run as much as $20,000.
James appeared to be comfortable with the general process. He did appear to experience
stress and was easily overwhelmed with some of the individual products during the AT
exploration process. This made the professionals involved more aware of the importance
of James' feelings and comfort with devices and choosing devices appropriate not only to
the task at hand, but to the James' preference and not their own preferences.
Since this began, James has had mixed success with the chosen AT devices. He has
begun using a basic wall calendar. He decided to only write the hours, such as 5:00—9:00
p.m., and leave the day he is off blank. This minimizes the appearance of clutter for him
and he can tell at a glance whether or not he even works that day. He initially still had
trouble figuring out which day it was, so he began crossing off the previous day first thing
the next morning. On days when he forgets to cross of the days and he is confused as to
