Human factors considerations in implementing telemedicine systems to accommodate older adults

The number of older adults is increasing, and telemedicine has the potential to improve their access to health care. Telemedicine systems have been shown to benefit older adults by increasing peer support interactions, providing health-care access to older adults in rural communities, reducing the cost of health care, increasing exercise, reducing pain and depression, and, perhaps most important, improving functional independence. However, older adults may have different needs from other users when interacting with telemedicine systems, because of age-related changes in perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities. The design of telemedicine technologies should, therefore, capitalize on older adults' strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. The field of human factors has much to offer in optimizing interactions between older adults and telemedicine technologies. Future research should take advantage of human factors methodologies to best design telemedicine technologies for an older population.