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How do your
medication management processes weigh up?
According 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 facility 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 source 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
www.icarehealth.co.uk
iCareHealth is an aged care software provider that specialises in electronic medication management
www.icarehealth.com.au
Connect with iCareHealth: