Robotics, big data and electronic trackers play a major part in supporting the nursing care market. Shortage of nurses and aging populations are increasing the demand for advanced technological solutions. Prototypes for robot nurses are being manufactured in countries such as Japan. Robot for Interactive Body Assistance (RIBA) is one such prototype that can lift people and move them to another position. These robots can be used for the elderly and people suffering from diseases such as paralysis.

Japan was the second largest country in the nursing care market worth $77.1 billion in 2018, nearly one-fourth of the USA’s nursing care market, the largest market globally. This market size can be attributed to the large geriatric population that need medical services, large number of patients with dementia, and increasing adoption of technological advances that make services affordable. The nursing care market is expected to grow to over $115 billion by 2022.

Other technological advances being adopted by companies in the global nursing care market include IoT, telehealth, big data analytics, and electronic visitor verification technologies. Nursing care providers are adopting advanced technologies to improve patients’ quality of life. Many companies are providing wearable technologies for patients with chronic illnesses and elderly patients requiring care, such as senior friendly phones with larger displays for patients with poor vision, and remote control options for lights, windows, doors and thermostats. Advanced personal emergency response systems (PERS) have features such as fall detection which automatically alert the appropriate responders when an older person falls. For example, Mobile Help Inc, a US-based medical device company, has launched a new M-PERS automatic fall detection technology. myHalo’s wearable auto fall detect pendant is designed to alert a central monitoring station by transmitting a wireless message indicating a fall without the user having to push a button.