According to a study performed by McLean Hospital’s Ipsit Vahia—medical director of Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services at McLean Hospital—the use of tablet computers, a nonpharmacologic intervention, is potentially a safe and effective approach to manage agitation among dementia patients.

The use of tablet to reduce agitation in dementia patients seems to be feasible, of potential use, and safe. The results obtained help the app developers to serve the technologic necessities of the population and also help the use of technology such as tablet use for patients care.

According to an article Use of Tablet Devices in the Management of Agitation Among Inpatients with Dementia: An Open Label Study published in the online journal The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, dementia symptoms can be reduced using therapies such as art and music without any medication. Thus, the use of tablets can also prove beneficial for the patients.

Vahia says that using different free apps one after the other easily according to an individual’s mood and also without investing in the new equipment is the versatility a tablet can provide.

The researchers concluded that the use of tablet is safe and sound for dementia. The proper training and supervision while keeping the patient engaged in the use of tablet is a must. The tablet use helped reduce the agitation particularly in dementia patients but not in the mild patients.

The Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services clinical team is planning to expand the tablet use worldwide in order to reduce agitation in dementia patients and develop more apps in order to collect a robust patient data based on these previous results.

With the world becoming technology-oriented, let’s hope that the use of tablets in such a way will be a boon in the medical domain.