Contents 1.1 Discuss how technology can be used to support users of health and social care services in living independently. 1 1.2 Analyze barriers to the use of technology to support users of health and social care services in living independently. 2 1.3 Explain the benefits of these technologies to health and social care organizations and their users. 3 2.1 Describe health and safety considerations in the use of technologies in health and social care. 4 2.2 Analyze ethical considerations in the use of assistive technologies. 5 2.3 Explain the impact of recent and emerging technological developments on health and social care services. 6 3.1 Identify Maggie’s specific needs and recommend appropriate devices in order to support her to continue living independently. 7 3.2 Influence of assistive technology in role workers in health and social care 8 Bibliography 9

1.1 Discuss how technology can be used to support users of health and social care services in living independently.
For those people who have trouble getting around places, in making communication with others or in handling the everyday tasks, there are many assistive types of equipment available to help them in such tasks. An assistive technology is the one that is capable of helping the disabled or the elder people in handling the activities they were always capable of doing, but in their present medical condition, they just cannot.
In other terms, these devices or tools are also known as “adaptive devices”. These devices adapt to the needs of the patient using them and provide assistance in doing certain tasks. Such type of technology tools are sometimes as simple as a walker to make the walking practice of the person easier or a hearing aid that helps the hearing impairment of a person and allows them to listen properly. This list may also involve the magnifying glass that makes people with vision impairment to read the newspapers (Schere, 2012).
Assistive technology includes devices (ATD) and service delivery (Anogianakis, et al., 1997). Assistive technology is a great technology that allows the people suffering from old age or some kind of disability to remain independent and function the way they used to. Use of such technology assistance can very well make the difference between someone living independently or having to relying on someone else on a regular basis for healthcare, medications or everyday tasks. This is critical in enabling some people to perform their everyday tasks such as bathing or using the bathroom every now and then. Most people who use some kind of assistive device find themselves less dependent on the people and able to function independently for most tasks.
Additionally, assistive care can also help in reducing the cost of health care for the disabled and elder people. For some of the equipment, monthly payments may cost some money; however, in many cases, purchasing a health care assistive device will cost a lot less than having a nurse at home for health care. Assistive care technology devices depend on the type of disability or the task to be completed. There are different categories of assistive devices available to help the people in overcoming the disabilities.
1.2 Analyse barriers to the use of technology to support users of health and social care services in living independently.
Assistive technology can be a great tool to improve the independence of a disabled person in taking care of his medication or everyday tasks. Use of technology creates a great assistance for such people and it stays available throughout the day. In Sally’s condition, she could continue her work as an Executive account in the organization through the use of assistive technology. Her vision impairment was assisted with the use of an enlarged keyboard to make sure that she remains as productive as before. This kind of help can completely change the way a person works as the assistive devices helped Sally in still being able to continue her job and drive her daughter to soccer practice.
Even with so many benefits for so many disabilities, there are many limitations applicable with the use of such technology. It is not possible to use in every situation such devices and there are some technical and social barriers as well. Following is a discussion about the barriers in use of assistive technology: * Possibility of failure: While some assistive devices are very simple in design like a walker, some others are very complicated in function or in the design. With the more complicated design, the chances of machine failure become more probable. This puts a limit on the use of assistive devices and relying on such a machine with your life is not possible. * Battery operated: many of the electronic devices that are designed to assist people in the disability operated through a power source and utilize battery for this purpose Even with a long lasting battery, after some time, there needs to be some kind of charging mechanism for the device and in that duration, the device becomes unusable. * Cost: Some simple assistance devices make the complete health care process less expensive. Such an example of this cost reduction is a walker that assists the disabled in walking around and doing the everyday tasks. While, more sophisticated devices are much more expensive and in some cases puts in the family in the situation of monthly payments for the devices ( (Hoyt, 2007)

1.3 Explain the benefits of these technologies to health and social care organizations and their users.

For the assistive technology, it is true that the technology and the assistive devices itself are designed specially to take care of the needs of the patient who is suffering from some kind of disability. However, they are not the only people benefitted from the use of such devices. The health care organizations are also getting great benefits with the invention of such devices. It is important to note that not every disabled person in need of some kind of assistive device can afford such a device. The social organizations cannot provide such assistance to everyone without the assistive devices. There are several beneficial aspects of the use of assistive technology for social and health care organization: * Easy availability of such devices: Health care organizations cannot provide everyone in need of healthcare with personal staff or nurses without proper funding or manpower. However, with cheaper prices of such devices, it is easier for such companies to attend the needs of more people and provide them the devices they need. Even the government helps such products with less or no taxes and subsidy offers to the organizations. * Helping the recovery process: Sometimes the disability is just temporary after an injury and it can be fixed with constant practice of normal activities. In such a case, the assistive devices help the disabled people in making quick recovery and speed up the recovery process to achieve perfect health again. * Living a normal life: A disability of any kind can make the difference between a normal life and a life that is dependent on actions and help of other people. After such a disability, a person may not be able to work the way they used to or may not be able to continue their job. In such a case, an assistive device might be just what the user need to get the job done ( Sloan, 1996)

2.1 Describe health and safety considerations in the use of technologies in health and social care.
Effectiveness of assistive technology extends beyond the context of school (Watson, 2007). Assistive technologies can provide great health benefits to the patients and the health care and social organizations. However, there are various disadvantages associated with this technology as well. Such kind of assistance devices of the assistive technology is very new in the complicated cases and the results are not very well established through the feasibility tests. While, most of the studies related to the assistive technology are performed for the short term benefits and effects of these devices, there are very few studies performed on the long term aspects of such devices. Feasibility tests conducted so far are not very efficient. There are a number of health and safety aspects that needs to be addressed about the use of such devices: * Long term effects on the health: The assistive devices are to help the patients with their everyday tasks and these are also supposed to help them in keeping their independent with the everyday tasks. However, in case of an injury, it is important to notice the long term effects of the device on the patients’ health. * Interrupting the recovery process: In case of an accident or some other kind of physical injury, the assistive devices are used as a helpful element for the recovery of the patient. However, it is important to introduce the assistive devices in a staged manner to make them more effective in the recovery program instead of interrupting it. Sometimes, such devices can cause the lack of will for the person suffering from a trauma or injury. This can very well affect the recovery process and take longer in complete solution. * Safety Check: For any patient, the safety measures of such devices should always be of high standards. A low quality assistive device can cause damage or injury and this may cause the disability problem to grow further.
2.2 Analyse ethical considerations in the use of assistive technologies.
The provision of computers and other high technology products for assistive devices for disabled people has proved problematic (Craddock, 2003). Just like any big invention, such assistive devices are capable of good thing to a great extent, but it is also possible for some people to misuse this technology to gain some unethical benefits. It is also essential to understand that such a technology can cause both these effects at the same time. It is possible that such a device may help the person with their condition, but might leave them vulnerable with some other aspects. Most ethical risks involved with the use of devices are not clear in the very beginning; instead, a person sees this at a later stage of use of the device. Some of these concerns are listed below: * Assistance devices are sometimes used for the purpose of monitoring of the person who is disabled or has a medical condition. While this provides fast assistance in cases of emergency, it also breaks the privacy of the same person. Information like this can be used in wrong doings of all kind and is believed to be unethical in any case. * Assistive devices are used to allow the people live independently, without needing the help of other people in the tasks of everyday. However, there is also a fear that it supports the cut back process in the society and might promote less human contact in society. * Some people might use devices like this to complete the tasks they are able to do anyway. This may make the problem even worse and make the condition non fixable. * Such things are known to be complicated and allow the people to go beyond the capabilities of their own. * Use of assistive technology might make the person constantly thinking about the problems he has instead of believing in the strengths they still possess. Assistive technology is not a very good help in giving the person a moral boost as it is a constant reminder of the disability. * Some of the assistive technology tools make use of computers for sharing of information and it is important to make sure that such information remains private (Craddock, 2003).
2.3 Explain the impact of recent and emerging technological developments on health and social care services.
Best technology for helping blind user navigates the menus just like any other technology, assistive technologies are getting better with the improvement in the existing technologies and with the help of emerging technologies. Such developments in technology are making this technology more efficient and more practical. The monitoring technologies are getting improved with time and the privacy concerns are getting reduced. The health care devices are now more practical, long lasting and reliable for the use in health care devices.
For example- people with vision impairment can achieve great benefits with the new technology of virtual reality. This can provide them a better look of the things even if they do not have vision impairment. Some other assistive technologies include the advancement in personal handheld devices such as smartphone and PDAs. These devices help in maintaining day schedule, alarms, and communication needs. Such devices can also be used in location measure. In other technologies, the transmitters can help the doctors and practitioners in keeping track of the patient (Robitaille, 2010).
3.1 Identify Maggie’s specific needs and recommend appropriate devices in order to support her to continue living independently.
Maggie is suffering from dementia which causes some continuous memory loss and raises the problem of madness slowly. Due to this disease Maggie cannot able to do her regular work or cannot concentrate on her regular needs. Her disease causes destroys whole body firstly mental ability to handle situations in long-term. Maggie is very busy and active woman who handles more than one work in a day due to this disease she cannot remember work and not even differentiate it’s a day or night. She is not able to handle her routine business due to memory loss.
Assistive technology outcome instruments will be beneficial for the development of the field of assistive technology (Dharne, 2006). There are some tasks in her everyday life that she can use some help with it. Assistive technology can help her in retaining her independency and also helps in handle her everyday routine life and business or office work. Some assistive technologies for Maggie in her disease dementia are such as:
Reminder assistance: this technology helps her into reminding place or time. This technology provide timer which beeps after a particular interval and place reminder beeps at each new place entry and its name to patient.
Sensors and alarms: this technology is very important to handling daily routine life. This helps patient to keep reminding her about different active tasks. Sensors helps in sensing unwanted harmful event and alarms provide solution or response of sensor’s activity. Alarms helps in reminding patient that she can handle unwanted or harmful event that was sensed by sensors.
Intelligent wiring and switches: this technology helps patient when she starts forget things or daily routine. Using intelligent wiring and switches lights and all the electronics equipment automatically controlled. When patient forget switch off the light then this will automatically switches off the lights and other equipment.
Smart toilet: this is used to help patient to get regular check-up of her blood pressure, heart rate and sugar level in her urine and give all the details to her doctor. This technology is used for preventing from other disease which is generated due to patient problem. This prevents from another viral disease to patient.
Computer: this technology is now important for each person in everyday life. For the patient Maggie this helps her in connecting with her family members and doctors. She can get additional helping in her work using computer machine by computer she can handle her most of the routine work can handle through her home also.
3.2 Influence of assistive technology in role workers in health and social care
Assistive technologies provide many advantages to patient. They will also help workers of health and social care. Workers of social care cannot handle more people at a time if they are disabled in some term. They use some assistive technology equipment to serve those disabled people at same time. However, they are not the only people benefitted from the use of such devices. The health care organizations are also getting great benefits with the invention of such devices. It is important to note that not every disabled person in need of some kind of assistive device can afford such a device. The social organizations cannot provide such assistance to everyone without the assistive devices. There are several beneficial aspects of the use of assistive technology for social and health care organization. These technologies also help in building new concern environment to reduce or overcome disabilities of many people in any social care centre.
If there are many people have disability in walking perfectly then social care workers provide walker rather than nurses to serve those patients or peoples. It will reduce costing of health care in any social care centre and also reduce the man power strength needed. These technologies provide advance features to reducing the problem of patients of different environment.
Bibliography
Anogianakis, G., et al.,(1997).Advancement of assistive technology. 20 ed. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Craddock, G. M. (2003). Assistive technology: Shaping the future .1st ed. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Dharne, M. G. (2006). Reliability and validity of assistive technology outcome measure (atom) version 2.0 for adults with physical disability using wheelchairs. (p. 83). ProQuest.
Hoyt, r., et al., 2007. Medical Informatics: Practical Guide for the Healthcare Professional 2007. available at. Lulu.com 2014.
Schere, M. J., 2012. Assistive Technologies and Other Supports for People With Brain Impairment. 1st ed. New York: Springer.
Sloan, . F. A., 1996. Valuing Health Care: Costs, Benefits, and Effectiveness of Pharmaceuticals and other technologies. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge university press.
Robitaille, S. (2010). The illustrated guide to assistive technology and devices: Tools and gadgets for living independently. (20 ed.). available at ReadHowYouWant.com.