Autumn Leaves - automatic fall detection and digitization optimize the fall injury process for elderly

Purpose and goal

The project´s aim was to improve precision in assessment and prioritization of fall injuries in the home through reliable and quick fall detection. The goal was to lay the foundation for a technical solution for automatic transmission of information to the alarm center. In cooperation with service providers the service ASAP was developed to offer flexible and modular integration and analysis of information from different systems, sensors, devices and sources enabling applications to different IoMT contexts, types of patients/illnesses and care contexts.

Expected results and effects

The service ASAP was developed based on international and open interfaces and standards, including APIs for transferring data from the respective service providers for fall detection, home monitoring as well as from smart watches and safety alarms. ASAP was validated and tested, and staged in a realistic situation to illustrate the benefit in a concrete fall injury situation. This was documented as a short movie for wide dissemination of the project´s results. Overall, the results ensure the usefulness, feasibility and relevance of ASAP for involved actors and stakeholders.

Planned approach and implementation

This prototype development project was able to develop, validate and test the technical ASAP solution, identify its role in the alarm/care chain, and ensure relevance and feasibility for involved actors and parties. However, aspects linked to utilization, ownership, market and regulatory issues are found to be very complex. These challenges should be taken forward in follow-up projects aiming for clinical pilot implementations, focusing on how ASAP can be applied and used in other acute situations and critical conditions.