Artificially intelligent nursing homes: a scoping review of palliative care interventions

Introduction: The world’s population is aging at a rapid rate. Nursing homes are needed to care for an increasing number of older adults. Palliative care can improve the quality of life of nursing home residents. Artificial Intelligence can be used to improve palliative care services. The aim of this scoping review is to synthesize research surrounding AI-based palliative care interventions in nursing homes. Methods: A PRISMA-ScR scoping review was carried out using modified guidelines specifically designed for computer science research. A wide range of keywords are considered in searching six databases, including IEEE, ACM, and SpringerLink. Results: We screened 3255 articles for inclusion after duplicate removal. 3175 articles were excluded during title and abstract screening. A further 61 articles were excluded during the full-text screening stage. We included 19 articles in our analysis. Studies either focus on intelligent physical systems or decision support systems. There is a clear divide between the two types of technologies. There are key issues to address in future research surrounding palliative definitions, data accessibility, and stakeholder involvement. Discussion: This paper presents the first review to consolidate research on palliative care interventions in nursing homes. The findings of this review indicate that integrated intelligent physical systems and decision support systems have yet to be explored. A broad range of machine learning solutions remain unused within the context of nursing home palliative care. These findings are of relevance to both nurses and computer scientists, who may use this review to reflect on their own practices when developing such technology.