Home Care and Telemedicine Services: towards the development of guidelines for the design of interfaces and products

In recent years, there was an implementation of home care and telemedicine services to address the global aging population. In fact, as age increases, conditions of cronical diseases, co-morbidities or inability to perform daily activities independently grows (Divo et al., 2014). Therefore, the care and assistance needs of the elderly increase, and this has a major impact on both the health care system of individual states and the socio-family network, which is involved in different forms in providing and/or supporting the care of the elderly (Genet et al., 2012). This is very evident especially in countries with a high rate of elderly people such as Italy (Istat, 2023). A distinguishing feature of the current generation of older adults is an increased familiarity with new digital technologies, intended both as technological devices and as interfaces and software (Czaja et al., 2019). Therefore, such technologies can be a valuable resource to ensure effective and safe home care but also to ensure continuity of care pathways, facilitating the doctor-patient-caregiver relationship and communications (Mckinsey, 2020; Osservatorio Sanità Digitale, 2021). These are the basis for the study conducted by the authors on the most relevant home care and telemedicine services in Italy and the subsequent analysis of the Tuscan case study, which refers to the GIROT (Hospital-Territory Rapid Intervention Groups) service offered by the Careggi University Hospital, Florence. The GIROT Service, activated during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to treat at home elderly and frail people with chronic diseases and co- morbidities, who do not find benefit from hospitalization.