Medication management is a complex area of care: There are many steps involved, and information is obtained from various sources. Internal and external healthcare professionals both play a role, including medical professionals and aged care home staff, to help ensure patient safety and an efficient medication prescription process.
Aged care home residents with long-term conditions often take many medications. Each week, care workers spend hours manually updating, auditing, processing and filing medication administration records. If records are not fully maintained and updated at all times, staff may not have all the information they need for accurate medication prescribing, such as the last time medication was given, and how much is prescribed.
Human errors inevitably creep in, whether that’s unrecorded or incorrectly documented administered medications, or even missed doses. When preventable adverse medication events occur, the safety and wellbeing of service users are compromised, and operational efficiency and confidence suffer.
Effectively managing medication requires an organised, streamlined and intuitive approach to medication prescribing. That’s where an electronic medication management system in aged care can come in. Opting for an electronic prescribing system over manual medication management processes helps to boost efficiency, minimising medication errors, optimise patient safety, and improve residents’ quality of life.
This ultimate guide will share everything you need to know about aged care software and how it can benefit your aged care home.
An electronic medication management system is an automated solution that tracks the entire medication process: From ordering and storage to dispensing, administration, disposal, and electronic medical record-keeping. Electronic medication management offers a way of supporting caregivers and other healthcare professionals as well as the residents themselves.
Using an electronic prescribing system for medication management in aged care homes offers a safe and cost-effective solution for use of medicines in aged care, ensuring residents receive the medication they need, at the right time, and in accordance with patient electronic health records. The use of a digital medication management system offers a range of benefits over manual prescribing systems and reduces preventable adverse medication events by means of electronic medication reconciliation and prescription management.
Historically a manual process, electronic medication management systems are now making waves, supporting aged care homes with a highly effective medication prescribing tool that creates a complete and accurate medication list for residents; the foundation for identifying and addressing medication reconciliation and management issues.
Using an electronic prescribing system in aged care also helps to bring residents, families, and caregivers together, centralising vital information in one place for patient-centric implementation and care.
Electronic medication management systems are all about reducing medication errors and improving patient safety while minimising manual and time-consuming work. Employing commercial electronic prescribing systems frees up caregivers to spend more quality time with residents, doing things that make a real difference to their quality of life.
If a medication-related mistake or preventable adverse medication event occurs, aged care home residents may suffer from harmful side effects, organ failure, and even death. Therefore, a rigorous patient safety system should be in place, ensuring medicine is administered safely and consistently.
Effective electronic medication management systems improve patient safety by helping to prevent errors from happening in the first place, by providing safer and more reliable healthcare services.
More than that, employing an electronic system can also save time by eliminating manual steps, and can even reduce care home costs thanks to process automation.
Effective electronic medication management in aged care offers a host of advantages for both care home residents and healthcare professionals, from remote access for doctors and a 360-degree view to enhanced efficiency and a better quality of life for patients.
Described as a ‘godsend’ by doctors, game-changing electronic medication management systems allow physicians to review and amend medication profiles and prescriptions and update care notes – remotely and based on real-time data using general practitioner desktop systems.
Remote access is possible because physical signatures are no longer required for medication supply, making it easier and quicker for doctors to do their job, without having to leave their surgery or hospital.
Tech-savvy electronic medication management systems integrate with Person Centred Software’s Clinical Care System. And so, when aged care home staff and healthcare professionals document the lifecycle of medication through a management system, that crucial information is then stored in Person Centred Software’s Clinical Care System.
With records saved in one central location, caregivers can say goodbye to entering data twice. And with information constantly kept up to date, all parties involved can rest assured that errors are minimised, there’s complete visibility, and resident safety is put first.
By implementing an electronic medication management system, various administrative tasks are automated, taking pressure off staff and giving them more time to concentrate on higher-value activities.
Meanwhile, integration between the electronic medication management system and Person Centred Software’s Clinical Care System is proven to improve the efficiency of caregivers, by storing data in a single location and decreasing administrative manual work.
With an electronic medication management system, care staff can simply view medication that’s due to be administered in a given time period, boosting productivity. Gone are the days of manually sifting through paper-based records – a process that’s error-prone and lengthy.
Hours spent on admin and record keeping equates to time not spent with residents. By implementing electronic medication management in aged care, caregivers have more opportunities to interact with residents, improving their quality of life and wellbeing.
If you’re an aged care home seeking to take the first steps with an electronic medication management system and electronic health records, Person Centred Software is here to guide you on your journey. Helping improve standards in social care since 2013, we put residents at the heart of everything we do.
Our ethos centres around building a digital ecosystem of care, where every aspect of running an aged care home integrates with our Clinical Care System, from electronic medication management, compliance and data analytics to training and HR.
