What Is Inactivity Monitoring and Why Do You Need It for Personal Safety?

Contents:

1. What Is Inactivity Monitoring?
2. Medical Inactivity Monitoring Devices
3. General-Purpose Inactivity Alert Systems
4. An Easy-to-Use Inactivity Monitoring in AllsWell Alert App

 

Modern technology obliges us to be more attentive to our health, get information faster about significant changes around us, and take better care of personal safety. Inactivity monitoring capabilities have proven their worth over years of use in medicine. Today, inactivity monitoring reaches a new level of prevalence and usefulness. You can use it in modern devices and applications as part of the personal emergency response system (PERS). In this article, we will explain inactivity monitoring in detail and share some tips about its use so that you can choose the most convenient and advantageous personal safety device or app with inactivity monitoring for your family members and loved ones. 

What Is Inactivity Monitoring?

Inactivity monitoring is documenting or fixing the absence of a person’s activity by a given parameter. 

From a technical point of view, the absence of a given activity becomes a trigger to start a chain of predetermined reactions that the device is programmed for. The most straightforward scheme is the notification of inactivity by a signal.

In the healthcare industry, inactivity monitoring is a part of patient monitoring systems. In hospitals, the systems enable the nursing staff to be constantly aware of the patients' condition. Remote patient control systems allow early detection of dangerous conditions, become a valuable part of diagnostics, and let health professionals take better outpatient care.

Medical Inactivity Monitoring Devices

Broadly speaking, all devices and software with inactivity monitoring can be grouped into medical alert devices and general-purpose items. 

Medical inactivity monitoring devices are a part of vital sign monitoring systems. The devices are usually attached to the patient's body and monitor their pulse, blood oxygen saturation, body temperature, breathing movements, and other indicators. A built-in system transmits all the information received in the form of signals to the monitoring station. There, the data from the devices, including inactivity monitoring devices, are visualized on dashboards. Clinicians can generate reports for medical histories and adjust treatment plans flexibly based on the dynamical change tracking.

Studies show that this system of monitoring patients in intensive care units or general care units and specialized nursing homes allows for optimal distribution of the workload of the nursing staff. 

Both timeliness of response and effectiveness of treatment are improved. Since inactivity monitoring and other inpatient control systems are not always sufficient, specialists are conducting surveys and research for improvements.

To summarize, in hospitals, inactivity monitoring is the part of patient control systems that helps to learn in time about the medical emergency without the patient's active signal.

Remote patient monitoring is another important application of inactivity monitoring in medicine, especially the inactivity alert systems for chronic disease management. For example, when monitoring patients with mental health issues like Alzheimer's disease, it is essential not to cause unnecessary anxiety. Inactivity monitoring copes with this very well, and if you set the parameters correctly, it prompts the doctor in time to initiate contact with the patient.

General-Purpose Inactivity Alert Systems

Inactivity monitoring is an essential feature of personal emergency response systems and personal safety apps, including the senior and women safety systems. However, it’s still not present in many medical or emergency alert systems (compare the pricing and functionality of popular solutions here). Those having the inactivity monitoring functionality can be roughly divided into inactivity monitoring devices and inactivity monitoring apps. 

Inactivity monitoring devices include pendants and wearables like bracelets, necklaces, or keychains. 

Their operating principle is focused on movement. The device's program sets the maximum allowable time for the ‘movement not registered’ period. If the device owner does not move for longer, the inactivity monitoring device sends a signal. Depending on the specific company providing the service, the alert can go to:

• 911 operators,

• local medical emergency services,

• emergency contacts recorded in the personal emergency response system. 

Thus, the speed of response and the result will depend on the services involved and the ability of emergency contacts to respond. Another critical point to mention is that lack of movement does not always indicate an urgent condition. In case of a sensor malfunctioning, lost or forgotten device, or even incorrect settings for the inactivity period, you might end up having to pay a hefty price for the emergency services responding to a false alert. 

Inactivity monitoring apps take a more modern approach to supervision. Their set parameters are related to the use of a smartphone. People usually don't leave their smartphones for long, so there are many activities related to them, from turning off the alarm clock in the morning to watching the news and meditating before going to bed. Lack of interaction with a smartphone is more indicative of a non-standard situation than immobility. This especially relates to older adults, people with physical limitations, or sedentary work. And inactivity monitoring is a crucial feature for a safety app.

An Easy-to-Use Inactivity Monitoring in AllsWell Alert App

AllsWell Alert is a personal safety and emergency alert application available both for Android and iOS. Its distinctive feature is combining the panic button functionality with inactivity monitoring. As it’s a downloadable mobile app, it's easily accessible, handy, and doesn't require any professional assistance for installation and use. 

To activate the inactivity monitoring system in the AllsWell Alert App:

1. download the AllsWell Alert app for Android or iOS,

2. enter your emergency contacts.

That's it! The system is now tracking your inactivity periods and will send an alert to your emergency contact if you remain inactive for long. You can always cancel the alert notification or give a call to your loved ones to ensure them you’re fine. To facilitate installation, we’ve preconfigured the BED and WAKE time, as well as the typical inactivity period average for the majority of users. However, you can customize these at any time in your Dashboard.

The kind of interaction with the smartphone doesn't matter: you can call or take photos, watch videos of scroll social networks, text, or just handle your smartphone in any way. We also won’t be recording or monitoring your actual actions. With smart settings, the possibility of false alerts is minimal. And when it comes to your loved ones, it is much better to double-check than to miss an incident.

Download AllsWell Alert App for IOS or Android, try the inactivity monitoring system for a free month, and get peace of mind about your relatives' safety for only $9.99/month!