Integrated Information System for The Older People With A Comprehensive Care Delivery Approach| Biomed Grid

Introduction: The number of older people is on a quick rise due to increased social welfare, improved health and economic indices, and increased life expectancy. Considering the older adults' dominating social and health conditions, there is a constant need for a wide range of care and social services. The integrated and continuous care for the older adults play a crucial role in better management, improved service delivery quality, optimal use of health resources, and reduced cost. Developing an integrated information system is a proper strategy in realizing continuous and comprehensive care for the older adults. Thus, the present study aims at investigating the integrated information systems of the older adults and its significance in realizing/providing comprehensive care to them. Methods & Materials: In this review study, published studies from 1990 to 2017 were analyzed. In order to search articles, the author evaluated and reviewed valid scientific journals, websites and databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar, and found 243 articles. Having studied the titles and abstracts of the article in terms of relativeness to the research purpose, a precise review of the content of the articles was conducted. Eventually 30 studies were selected based on the specified criteria. Results: Based on the results, using information systems plays a key role in realizing comprehensive care of the older adults and leads to better management of the older adults, provision of quality services and reduced costs. Based on the investigations, the integrated information system of the older people requires some features, namely, accessibility to comprehensive information, support for integrated care of the older adults, the ability to share information and developing an integrated electronic record for them. Conclusion: The main component and infrastructure for the comprehensive care program for the elderly includes implementing an information system for them. Regarding the increasing growth of older adults' population in societies, it deems necessary to design and implement an integrated information system for them. Developing a comprehensive information infrastructure and determining the architecture of the information system for the older adults is an important issue that can be effective in developing a principled and efficient information system design