Practical assistive technology in elderly care: safe and smart solutions
This one-hour webinar will provide a practical, clinically focused overview of assistive technology options ranging from mainstream devices to affordable specialist equipment. The session will explore equipment that can promote safety without compromising independence.
Participants will leave with a clearer clinical reasoning framework for matching technology to clinical needs, enabling more confident and cost-effective recommendations in both community and residential settings.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify a range of assistive technology options, from mainstream devices to affordable specialist equipment
- Understand how assistive technology can enhance safety while maintaining independence
- Apply clinical reasoning to match appropriate technology to individual needs
- Make more confident, practical, and cost-effective equipment recommendations
- Consider the use of assistive technology across both community and residential care settings
Meet our Experts
Nicky is a dedicated Occupational Therapist with over 16 years of experience, specialising in disability, posture, and seating. She has worked in both in patient and community settings, and most recently served as a seating therapist within the HSE.
Ciara Fitzsimons has specialised in the field of Assistive Technology since 2001. With a background in Speech & Language Therapy, Ciara has worked across paediatric and adult settings, with a specific interest in how assistive technology can maximise function and real life independence.
Since 2025, Ciara has worked in independent practice, providing Assistive Technology assessments across Ireland and the UK. She also delivers professional supervision to clinicians, and provides training in the specialist areas of Assistive Technology.
People who watched this also watched...
Enhancing healthcare consultations and interventions: Using a coaching approach for effective patient engagement
Recent research shows that occupational therapy intervention is essential to support healthy ageing and adults living with chronic conditions who have difficulties performing daily activities (Hagelskjær et al. 2024). Equally, physiotherapy is crucial in supporting better physical health for older adults with and without chronic health conditions (Liu et al 2024). Supporting clients to self-manage their health is essential, but this requires specific approaches and communication styles, such as coaching. Join us for this webinar, which introduces how to use a coaching approach to enhance client engagement and intervention.
Rebuilding lives after stroke
A stroke can happen to anyone. This is an awareness raising webinar looking at what a stroke is and how to recognise when someone might be having a stroke. Having a greater insight into how this brain injury can impact on individuals, can help to inform any professional or personal interactions you may have with people affected by stroke. This webinar also covers what we can all do to reduce our risk of stroke, the work of the Stroke Association and ways we could potentially make a difference together.
Prescribing seating for cognitively impaired users: exploring the risks
When prescribing seating, our aim is to meet the needs of the service user by prescribing a chair that will provide the right level of support, enable safe, easier assisted or independent transfers, reduce risk of pressure injuries and enable them to obtain and maintain a good sitting posture in the provided chair. However when a service user has a cognitive impairment and has poor risk awareness, additional risks are present. In this session we aim to outline some of these possible additional risks and how to overcome them to ensure the service user and their carers/family remain as safe as possible when the service user is seated in a chair that is there to meet their needs.