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ElectronicMedication ManagementWhy these three words represent a significant opportunity for the residential aged care sector

According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare:

39,466

were admitted as a result of adverse medication events30%

people were admitted to hospitals from residential aged care facilities

Around 75% of these errors were

potentially preventable

Preventable medication errors in residential aged care are

caused by a combination of factors

combination

Sommers et al identified polypharmacy as: the concurrent use of 5+ medicines

In 91.2% of residential aged care facilities, residents

are prescribed an average of 9.75 medicines per person

Residents in aged care facilities are commonly

prescribed multiple medications at the same time, given their complex health conditions

So we can assume that an aged care facility with

100 beds would be administering, on average, about

1,000 medications to residents per day.

While an aged care organisation with

1,000 beds would be, on

average, administering up to

10,000 medications per day

Now consider that the primary tools being used by the majority of aged

care providers to manage their residents’ medications still revolve around paper-based systems with

significant limitations

It becomes very challenging to provide the highest levels of safe and quality care,

while using a manual approach to medication management

The medication management process within residential aged care is extremely complex

Providers are responsible for receiving, administering and documenting large volumes of medications on a daily basis

This process draws on information from a range of sources and requires involvement from numerous internal and external healthcare professionals

How can we better protect elderly residents from adverse medication events caused by

errors?

Strengthening the partnerships between the GPs, pharmacies and aged care facilities

Streamlining the workflows that support medication administration in aged care

Enter:

Electronic Medication

Management

A trend has occurred over the past few years, where more residential aged care providers are seeking to…

…improve medication management processes

By investing in EMM systems, many providers have successfully achieved

an immediate and substantial reduction in preventable medication

errors and improved resident safety

That’s not all!

Reduce Compliance Risk1

Not only do these distractions negatively impact staff productivity, they can also lead to serious compliance risks including signature omissions

Typically, the process of administering medications to residents takes place in the midst of a lengthy, demanding and disrupted medication round

Configurations prevent staff from proceeding with medication administration until a signature has been recorded

Intuitive alerts prompt staff to log onto a mobile device at the point of medication administration, ensuring that the medications to be administered within a given time period are electronically tagged with a date, time and signature

Eliminating signature omissions is a critical part of maintaining compliance

It can be achieved INSTANTLY with the implementation of an EMM system

Right documentation

Right resident

Right medication

Right route

Right dose

Right time R’s

These safety alerts further support accreditation requirements by enforcing the six R’s of correct

medication administration:

Staff are prompted to enter the reason for why the PRN was administered

In instances where EMM integrates with an electronic clinical system, this information is automatically recorded within a progress note to ensure more effective evaluation of PRN medications

EMM also provides further safeguarding against the compliance risks associated with the administration of PRN ‘as required’ medications

2 Increased efficiency and productivity during medication rounds

Paper-based systems force staff to spend their valuable time searching through paper-based

records when determining what medications are due throughout any given medication round

This process is not only cumbersome, but can easily increase the opportunity for discrepancies and errors

Centralised, electronic medication profiles that also ensure staff focus on only the specific

medications due to be administered within a given time period, by only displaying this information

EMM systems offer a tangible boost to efficiency and productivity by saving staff from manually

sorting through paper-based medication records to determine what medication is due at what time

3 Reduced pressure on registered nurses

Traditional medication administration processes often requires Registered Nurses (RN) to administer hundreds, if not thousands, of medications daily to residents

EMM reduces that pressure on RNs by providing a common electronic record that can be accessed by all authorised staff within the facility

Greater controls and transparency provided

by EMM systems enables greater confidence

to leverage available resources by more

effectively distributing the workflows relating

to the management of medications to

endorsed carers and other qualified

professionals

4 Enhanced governance and decision making

EMM ALERTS staff to potential safety issues or any missed steps relating to the administration of medication

This helps aged care providers to ensure that their organisation’s medication administration processes and records are always completed to the highest standard

of quality

Head office can easily and quickly obtain access to data in real-time including medications administered,

medications missed, PRNs and more

With functionality to electronically capture data and centralise this information, EMM also increases visibility of medication management processes

throughout an entire organisation

This electronic data can also be analysed to improve decision making and resident health outcomes

5 Improved experience for care and nursing staff

The entire aged care sector faces challenges

with recruiting and retaining qualified staff

These challenges are compounding with a shrinking workforce, and increasing workloads for those who

remain in the industry

EMM supports the demands on

facility staff and improves the care

experience

How?

Staff are freed from the intensive documentation and administrative duties and given more time to focus on providing safe and high quality care to older Australians

In our own experiences, EMM is quickly embraced by staff in aged care because they are easy to use and do not add to their existing workloads

Leading EMM systems are designed to complement the processes and information associated with existing clinical systems

When implemented correctly, electronic systems that provide critical clinical and medication

information at the point of care play a critical role in:

Reducing system-wide inefficiencies, compliance risks and pressure on staff

Improving resident safety

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iCareHealth is an aged care software provider that specialises in electronic medication management

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