Fitbit’s introduction of Luffu Link, a wearable designed to help adult children stay connected to and monitor the well-being of aging parents, raises an important question: How should technology fit into the broader care of an older adult?

From a clinical perspective, the value of any wearable depends on far more than what it can measure. It must be considered in relation to the individual’s cognitive and functional status, safety needs, existing medical-alert systems, living environment, and overall care needs.

The question is not simply what the device can do, but what the information can tell us and what it cannot. Technology can identify change. Clinical expertise gives that change meaning.

Who is the primary user?

Is Luffu Link primarily a tool for the older adult, the adult child monitoring from a distance, or both?

For adult children who live out of state, information about an aging parent’s activity, sleep, location, and changes from usual patterns may provide visibility that a phone call or occasional visit cannot.

However, the older adult is an active participant in the system. The technology may depend on the individual wearing the device, understanding how it works, recognizing when assistance is needed, and communicating with family.

This may work well for someone who remains independent and cognitively intact. It becomes more complicated with cognitive decline, impaired judgment, reduced insight or increasing difficulty managing independently.

An older adult may forget to wear the device, fail to recognize when help is needed, misunderstand a check-in, or indicate everything is okay without understanding the situation.

This is not necessarily a weakness of the technology. It is an important consideration in determining who the technology is appropriate for.

The falls risk question

Falls deserve particular attention because fall risk often develops gradually, with changes in strength, gait, balance, activity, pain, medications, cognition, mood, mobility or daily functioning.

This raises a more clinically meaningful question: Can wearable technology help identify changes that may signal increasing vulnerability before a fall occurs?

If activity or other patterns change significantly, the information may prompt the question of what has changed and whether further evaluation is warranted. The potential value may not simply be responding to an emergency. It may be bringing attention to a meaningful change early enough to investigate its cause.

For an older adult already at significant risk for falls and wearing a dedicated emergency medical-alert system, these technologies should not automatically be viewed as interchangeable.

A wearable such as Luffu Link may provide information about activity, sleep, location and changing patterns. A medical-alert system serves a different primary purpose: providing a mechanism for obtaining emergency assistance.

The practical question becomes: Does the additional wearable complement the existing safety system or simply create another device to remember? The objective should not be to add technology simply because it is available or because family members want greater visibility. The objective is to determine whether it improves the individual’s safety and care strategy.

The difference between data and clinical understanding

A wearable can potentially identify a change. It cannot necessarily explain it. A decline in activity, for example, could reflect illness, pain, medication effects, weakness, cognitive decline, depression, reduced mobility or temporary change in routine. Understanding that difference requires knowledge of the person’s baseline, medical history, medications, cognition, function, and usual routine.

That is where clinical oversight becomes essential. Where the nurse care manager adds value. A nurse care manager looks beyond an individual data point to understand the older adult’s overall clinical and functional picture.

When a meaningful change is identified, the nurse care manager can consider mobility, falls, medications, cognition, daily functioning, the environment and overall health.

The nurse care manager can help determine whether therapy, a medication review, home-safety modifications, increased assistance, or provider communication may be appropriate.

The technology may bring attention to the change. The nurse care manager helps determine what the change may mean, and what should happen next.

For families caring for an aging parent, a wearable may provide information between visits. However, information is most valuable when someone understands the individual’s baseline and can determine whether a change is meaningful.

Wearable technology should therefore be viewed as one component of an individualized care strategy, not as a substitute for clinical assessment, human observation, emergency-response systems, or appropriate care.

The most important question is not: “Does this technology have useful features?” It is: “Is this technology appropriate for this particular older adult, and can they realistically participate in the system?”

The goal is not more technology. The goal is the right information, interpreted in the right context, translated into appropriate action. Technology can identify change. Clinical expertise gives that change meaning.

Jill Poser, founder and principal of Life Care Concierge of South Florida, a premier nurse-led care advocacy and management practice, is a nationally recognized leader in aging life care management, private-duty home care and life care planning.