LeadingAge 2022: Tackling Senior Care Staff Shortages with Technology - HealthTech Magazine

How Can Tech and Process Help Senior Care Mitigate Staff Shortages?

“COVID-19 accelerated the chronic unit shortages successful aging services. At the aforesaid time, exertion tin automate repetitive tasks and thrust efficiencies if processes are streamlined,” said Majd Alwan, elder vice president of exertion and concern strategy astatine LeadingAge and enforcement manager for the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies.

However, exertion unsocial is not enough, according to Steven VanderVelde, manager of elder surviving partnerships astatine ProviNET Solutions. He explained that organizations indispensable person a strategical IT program successful spot that fits into their wide strategical plans. A exertion spouse tin assistance organizations to accommodate their plans to conscionable their circumstantial needs.

Travis Gleinig, CIO of United Methodist Communities, recommended that elder attraction organizations spouse with vendors that person the aforesaid strategical vision. In addition, leaders should commencement with a three-year program to enactment flexible.

“There person been respective technologies released successful the past 18 months that person been crippled changers,” helium said. “If you’re stuck successful a plan, you mightiness find yourself successful method indebtedness and incapable to adapt.”

DISCOVER: Best practices for integer translation successful elder care.

When putting unneurotic a strategical IT plan, it’s important to see each stakeholders successful the process, including residents and staff.

To enactment these strategical IT plans and investments, senior attraction organizations request a beardown web infrastructure successful place. Having robust connectivity passim a campus, alternatively than conscionable successful communal areas, is beneficial for some residents and staff, arsenic beardown Wi-Fi and the due level of bandwidth tin enactment devices and technologies to amended experiences, wellness and workflows.

Once the program and supporting exertion is successful place, elder attraction organizations tin statesman implementing technologies and processes to amended enactment existing staff. Gleinig suggested that organizations look astatine exertion grants to assistance successful backing implementations.

His enactment implemented the VSTAlert strategy from VirtuSense to trim falls. As a result, helium said, falls resulting successful wounded decreased 71 percent. The solution made autumn prevention much businesslike and effectual and improved nurses’ quality to attraction for patients, according to Gleinig.

Creating a dedicated nonmigratory IT services role, oregon a tech concierge, takes the unit to reply nonmigratory questions disconnected of staffers, freeing them up to absorption connected their planned tasks.

Thrive Innovation Center CEO Sheri Rose added that, portion not new, virtual world is making a quality successful grooming the workforce, with immoderate solutions showcasing however seniors oregon radical with disabilities whitethorn acquisition the satellite to make much compassion successful elder attraction staff.

How Data Analytics Can Transform Post-Acute Care Workflows

“The past 2 years person been unbelievable arsenic acold arsenic staffing resources. Nurses are being asked to bash much with less, and they’re burned out,” said Kathy Derleth, elder objective relationship manager astatine Real Time Medical Systems. “How tin we marque beingness easier for unit members’ mundane workflows?”

She suggested focusing connected a replicable strategy, namely, reducing the administrative load with information analytics.

Angela Huffman, vice president of objective services astatine Affinity Health Services said that, utilizing a information analytics platform, her enactment was capable to “work smarter, not harder by leveraging exertion to alteration unit to beryllium the champion they tin be.”

A information analytics level tin information excavation and bring guardant applicable accusation astir which patients request further care. Huffman explained that the solution reduced paperwork and clip spent by nursing unit combing done volumes of insubstantial records each day. This streamlined the process for greeting gathering prep and shortened gathering times, allowing the objective squad to found caller attraction plans rapidly and forestall hospitalization oregon infection.

The exertion besides suggests objective interventions for patients with identified risk. Affinity Health Services worked with Real Time Medical Systems to customize alerts. For example, post-acute unit tin beryllium notified astir changes successful eating habits oregon medications. Huffman said her enactment besides wanted unrecorded information truthful that nurses cognize however a patient’s information is changing successful existent time. This information comes straight to the nurse, alternatively than the caregiver having to look done paperwork astatine the nurses station.

“We’re moving from predictive to interventional analytics,” said Derleth.

Data analytics platforms tin besides observe illogical ADL coding, which has an interaction connected reimbursement. This unsocial tin assistance organizations recuperate costs, and organizations besides tin bid further grooming for clinicians who person aggregate instances of illogical coding.

When implementing a information analytics platform, Huffman suggested, post-acute attraction leaders should amusement staffers however they tin enactment smarter alternatively than telling them that things are changing.

“Instead of adding thing caller successful the beginning, deliberation astir however you tin incorporated it into thing existing, specified arsenic expansive rounds oregon your greeting objective gathering oregon hazard meeting,” she added. “We sold it to unit by saying, ‘You person a caller instrumentality that volition forestall you from spending hours looking astatine charts. Now you tin walk clip impacting diligent outcomes.’”

Keep this leafage bookmarked for our sum of the 2022 LeadingAge Annual Meeting + EXPO, which took spot Oct. 16-19 successful Denver. Follow america connected Twitter at @HealthTechMag and articulation the speech at #LeadingAge22.