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How can technology help the owners of nursing homes and healthcare facilities? More importantly, perhaps, how can technology and the cloud benefit their patients?
There are facilities that still run their operations using pen and paper, stuck with old-fashioned methods that don’t help either staff or residents. Even kitchen menus are being circulated on paper, rather than being done by email or digital sharing.
Old antiquated systems need to be updated, ensuring sensitive information is secure and regulations such as GDPR are adhered to.
Time to move to the cloud
Increasingly, it’s become clear that using better technology and moving to the cloud gives more time to patients as nurses and care staff are freed up from mundane tasks.
There are more than 580 registered nursing homes in Ireland and more than 31,000 residential places. The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is charged with inspecting and ensuring these facilities provide residents with good quality of life.
Centralising data
The requirements in nursing homes differ according to their size and location. Those that are part of chains in a number of sites are centralising data so that it is available when and where required. For example, staff members clocking in can be tied to payroll and with all systems talking to each other, it saves a huge amount of time for admin staff.
Information on an individual patient’s care and medicines can now be shared with a number of systems and applications, such as CareMonitor and VCare, enabling nurses to use tablets or touch screens to access the full medical history – all backed up in the cloud with no files going missing.
Now patients can watch Netflix, too
Healthcare providers can improve the lifestyle of their patients with wifi and streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify as well as network management.
Homecare providers can now get GPS locations for their patients as well as the ability to log in and allow family members to be comforted that care staff are visiting their relatives, keeping track of both what they are paying for and providing better care.
New technology and systems take the pressure off nursing homeowners as work can be automated and become more accurate, giving valuable time back that can be spent with residents.
Ortus founder Cian Prendergast has been working with nursing homes and care providers for even longer than the company has existed and we have become trusted advisors to many healthcare facilities in that time, saving them an average €60,000 by future-proofing their buildings and cable infrastructure.
The key is a consultative process that provides the right competencies and values without them being bogged down by technology.
To discover more about Ortus Managed IT & Cloud Solutions for Healthcare Providers, click here.
