Australia's aged care system encompasses a wide array of services designed to meet many people's various needs as they age. It's an essential service where technology and digitisation have become integral to enhancing the efficiency and quality of these services and assisting aged care providers with the effective delivery of personalised care and support to the people they care for.
One crucial technology aiding the aged care sector is clinical information systems, also known as clinical care systems.
What is a clinical information system?
In Australia, aged care services are required by law to maintain comprehensive and accurate clinical documentation to meet regulatory and funding requirements and to support safe and high-quality care provision.
Clinical information systems, such as mCare, aid with the above and enable aged care providers to:
Access information
Monitor residents
Evidence care delivery in real-time, as it happens
A clinical information system is a digital solution that helps providers easily access and share information in real-time, saving time and eliminating the need to sift through reams of printed paper care plans to find the necessary information.
Instead, providers and their workforce can quickly access the information they need with just a few clicks. These electronic solutions also enable workers to spend more time with care recipients and less time completing administrative tasks at the end of their shift.
Using a clinical care planning system gives caregivers, registered nurses, managers, and executives the tools to provide residents with the best quality of care, increase holistic wellness, and make a real difference in their lives.
What are the benefits of using clinical information systems?
There are several benefits of digitising care records in residential care settings:
On average, it saves aged care providers an hour per day.
Assists in providing person-centred care to residents by clearly communicating an individual's preferences and needs. Allows providers to spend more time with residents to optimise their wellbeing, ultimately improving their quality of life.
Improves reporting capabilities to facilitate trending analysis, governance and government reporting requirements.
Helps the workforce to be aware of when people's needs change and monitors care in real-time, enabling a quick response time.
Enables proactiveness rather than reactiveness due to high visibility of health care information, needs, changes and responses to health care interventions.
Offers the ability to view, analyse and compare data to improve resident outcomes.
Enables quick, accurate, and safe sharing of relevant information between care recipients, care workers, healthcare professionals, and others involved in the resident's care, resulting in effective care delivery.
Quickly identifies and minimises risks to care recipients, helping to provide safer, more effective, person-centred care. This includes minimising risks such as medication errors, dehydration, malnutrition, weight loss, functional deterioration or missed care.
Makes it easier for aged care providers who use services such as 'My Health Record' to access their residents' acute healthcare information.
Helps staff to remain skilled and competent in their roles by being able to share relevant expertise and experience.
Progress notes can be easily recorded, stored, and accessed, requiring less storage space for paper copies that become redundant as soon as residents' needs change.
Supports a proactive, planned and coordinated care service and better resource use across health and aged care service streams.
The benefits for residents in aged care
Encourages residents to get involved in their care, giving them the power to manage their health and make informed decisions about their care and treatment.
Allows aged care providers instant access to a person's information and preferences, enabling them to provide responsive and person-centred care.
Keeps relatives around the world informed, engaged, connected, and involved in the care and support of their loved ones through a digital portal.
Reduces time spent on phone calls and writing reports, allowing staff to focus more on residents while providing a safe and welcoming care environment. Enables aged care providers to instantly share information with hospitals and external professionals via the Hospital Packfeature, providing the best possible care at every stage of residents' health and care journeys.
Learn more about our clinical information system,mCare, today!
Click here to discover how clinical information systems are improving the lives of those in aged care.
