The Digital Revolution in Nursing Homes: Between Performance and Ethical Challenges?

Performance in nursing homes is a complex issue that requires a balance between technological innovation, quality of care and respect for the rights, and well-being of both residents, patients, and caregivers. Technological advances can improve the lives of elderly people, but they must be implemented in an ethical way. Several researches have shown that technological innovation can be a possible palliative solution to the difficulties of caring for dependent elderly people in nursing homes (particularly public ones). But it must be designed to benefit the resident (for greater autonomy and personalized care in particular) and also be used for the benefit of caregivers. However, the integration of digital technologies (companion robots, remote medical monitoring devices, communication tools, health monitoring applications, etc.) raises new issues relating to respect for freedom, dignity, increased surveillance, collect of personal data, etc. So how can ethical principles be applied in nursing homes? The Care dimension can be integrated into these establishments through digital innovations in order to produce improvements, i.e., put the patient at the middle of discussions and to relieve the daily life’s caregivers.