”Thank you for bringing back my dad” The importance of proper fluid intake for the functional ability of seniors living in their own homes. From May 2023 to March 2024, Aarhus Municipality in Denmark carried out a publicly funded project with senior citizens affiliated with Care & Rehabilitation. The project was called "Prevention and treatment of dehydration” 1 and trialed the intelligent drinking glass AQUATIME. Purpose of the project: For seniors to achieve better health, improved well-being, and quality of life through prevention and treatment of dehydration, leading to fewer hospitalizations and a reduction in staff working hours. Background of the project • Studies show that as many as 20% of seniors receiving home care are dehydrated 2 . • D ue to a lack of standardized tools and methods for identifying dehydration, the actual occurrence is unknown and probably underestimated 3 . • D ehydration in the elderly can lead to a number of serious sequelae such as delirium, the tendency to fall, constipation, kidney failure, increased risk of infections, and poor regulation of diabetes, which lead to potential hospitalizations, increased morbidity, and mortality 4 . • Particularly, individuals over the age of 65 are at risk of dehydration, as the natural feeling of thirst weakens as you age, and the body finds it more difficult to maintain fluid balance 5 . Streamlining the municipality's operations • T ime saved on fluid recording practices (measured via time tracking: paper baseline and test with glass) • T he employees are relieved of documentation and administrative tasks and can perform other tasks • Improvement in quality of basic nursing care (measured via drinking data from glass and compared to baseline) Effect measure and data collection method for the project Providing good service to the city's citizens: • G reater well-being and quality of life as a result of prevention of dehydration (measured via The World Health Organization's - Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) + qualitative interviews) • Increase in functional ability due to faster and more valid treatment of dehydration (measured via Functional Independence Measure (FIM) + qualitative interviews) Project evaluation The results showed that 63% of participants in the project, had an improved functional ability. The project also showed that the seniors’ functioning ability is linked to their fluid intake. 59% of the citizens also experienced an increase in well-being. Some seniors experienced up to 176% increase in well-being. A correlation was also observed between the percentage change in FIM and in WHO-5, so the seniors whose functional ability increased during the project also had a higher level of well-being. The project showed that using AQUATIME saved 30% of time compared with recording data on a paper- based fluid chart.
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