Providing supported living services efficiently and cost-effectively requires meticulous staff management – especially when it comes to organising the rota. So it’s not surprising that the care provider featured in our latest case study, St Joseph’s Services, found fulfilling its complex range of services using a paper-based rota system time-consuming and unwieldy.
As business and support manager Eddy McGregor explains, the limitations of the staff rota system also affected the coverage the organisation was able to provide.
“The paper-based rota was time consuming to prepare, inflexible and did not provide sufficient detail to ensure effective coverage of contracts,” he says. “It was clearly an area where we could make improvements by using new technologies.”
Flexibility to deal with different care models
After looking at a number of electronic rota systems, St Joseph’s settled on easyLog’s e-Log software – because it offered the flexibility to function across both community care services and the care home sector. Eddy decided to pilot the rota management software in one of the organisation’s most complex service areas, Housing Support, which encompasses the two elements involved in all its other services – 24-hour support in one location and mixed support at various locations.
The new rota system was a success from the start. As well as being easy to set up and use, it has helped St Joseph’s cut costs, allocate staff more efficiently and improve record keeping.
“e-Log has enabled us to allocate staff to individual clients more effectively, allowing us to fulfil contracts, eliminate dead time, reduce overtime and costs, and report accurately and in good time to our funders,” Eddy concludes. “We are now working to roll out the system across the whole of St Joseph’s.”
One of the key benefits our care sector clients describe about their implementation of our care record management software is the facility to define their own recording phraseology for their care staff. On a practical level this feature means that the carer can be presented with recording options that are meaningful to them. This may be because the software is replacing previous manual documentation that has been used for many years or simply that the implementation has allowed the senior staff to present simplified expressions of more medical terms.
And practicality is key to the success our clients have seen in implementing care-Log+ especially in conjunction with the use of tablet PCs and the simplicity of the Carer App. This approach allows a care provider to capture the volume of recording that CQC Inspections now require. And because of the simple adaptation of technology that volume is achieved by the care staff as part of their usual care or shift notes regime.
As I mentioned earlier, the definition of the words that carers select is key. So a fluids chart could be defined in terms of millilitres or by ‘drunk whole cup’, ‘drunk half cup’, etc. Likewise a nutrition record can be phrased to include the option selected at any meal and the amount of food then consumed, such as ‘fully eaten’, ‘half eaten’, etc.
These recordings could be arranged in a single ‘nutrition’ or ‘fluid chart’ document (or evaluation record as it’s called in the software) or split across several documents organised by shift time. So for example, a carer could record the breakfast, mid-morning snack/drink and lunchtime intake in a shift note designed to record all activities from 8am to 2pm. The reporting options in care-Log+ enable a manager to collate all nutrition and/or fluid entries for any service user from any number of care recording documents into a single report. This becomes a vital tool during a CQC audit but also shows the practicality that was highlighted at the outset of this Blog. The main care recording documents can be organised to suit the needs of the service users and the care staff and do not have to be designed to second guess what questions a CQC Inspector may ask; if the recording has been done then the care-Log+ software can present the care records in any way required for audit purposes.
If you would like to discuss any functionality or issues raised in this blog please call one of our team on 01892 834406 or e-mail us on info@easylog.co.uk
It goes without saying that in a CQC audit the Inspector will look for written proof of the care that has been provided. After all that is what an audit is about; select a small number of residents as sample cases and analyse their records. If any anomalies come to light then drill down further and possibly widen the audit to include other resident records.
But that means the care provider has to ensure their care staff are recording their shift notes in the quantity and quality required to provide the depth of record sets that an Inspector requests. Which brings to mind a number of obstacles. Handwritten notes can be subjective and may contain what could be regarded as inappropriate phraseology. Text such as ‘enjoyed a good day’ may be deemed meaningless as a record of the mood or care provision of the resident. Additionally, recent years have seen an influx of overseas staff into the care sector. A percentage of these will have English as their second language which could present problems with the meaning and accuracy of the words used in care records. Beyond these concerns legibility would always be an issue from the mix of handwriting styles that carers bring with them and also, how contemporaneous the notes are without authoritative electronic means of time stamping.
Our care-Log+ care record management software addresses these areas by a two pronged approach. First, carers are presented with shift note documents that have multiple prompts each with a selectable option menu for them to record what happened across care needs such as continence, drinks taken, quantity of food consumed, etc. Additional text can be entered as well if a greater description is required. Second, care-Log+ presents these shift note documents on tablet PCs. With touch screen ease of use combined with placement in accessible locations around the home, all recordings are automatically time and date stamped together with the user ID and then wirelessly added to the central database automatically.
The end result is that the required volume of records is achieved with objectivity and speed yet with reliability and accuracy that is fully auditable. In short, the balance between giving care and recording care is firmly restored in favour of what carers are actually employed to do.
If you would like to discuss any functionality or issues raised in this blog please call one of our team on 01892 834406 or e-mail us on info@easylog.co.uk
This series of blogs focuses on the particular aspects of our care-Log+ care record management software that assist care providers to prove the care they have delivered in structured record sets. Above all we want to describe how the functionality of the software helps you deliver an auditable trail for inspection by any regulatory body.
In our previous blog (on recording for a CQC Inspection) we wrote about the detail and volume of information that it appears a care home may be audited on in a CQC Inspection. Nutrition and fluid records seem to be a particular focus as inspectors try to ascertain that the care home is providing correct input of both – and evidencing this by their records.
We remarked how users of our care-Log+ care record management system were able to satisfy the volume of their record keeping needs, whilst not losing focus on the fact that their care staff are employed to care rather than be administration clerks, in two ways: First, through the facilities care-Log+ offers to define the care records that the management team want the care staff to record. So fluid intake could be defined in terms of millilitre bandings (‘less than 20ml’, ’20ml – 40 ml’, ‘more than 40 ml’ for example) or by description such as in the example of an evening drink with ‘few sips’, ‘half taken’, ‘all taken’, ‘declined’. Secondly, the care staff can quickly record these notes not at a PC (although of course the option exists to do this) but on a wirelessly connected tablet PC that is either carried by the carer or wall-mounted in convenient locations around the home such as in the dining room or lounge.
However, by giving carers an easy and accessible method of recording their shift notes, haven’t we just created another mountain of records to look through only in electronic form rather than paper-based? Well yes we have but there is an extra aspect of the recording functionality (that works with the defining of the prompts and dropdown options that the carer sees on the tablet) that makes care-Log+ a very pro-active care management tool that allows a focus on the exceptions.
That additional facility is the option to mark specific responses, if selected by the carer, as flagging alerts. So in the examples given earlier, the selection of ‘less than 20ml’ for fluid intake could be designated as an alarm and thus alert the management team that the resident has consumed an insufficient volume. A warning is immediately placed on their desktop and will also appear in the Shift Handover report. The software presents the alert in an alarm list. Clicking on a line will then take the senior or matron reviewing the alert flags to the shift note record and present options to enter additional comments, review associated care plans and/or health and risk assessments, add a care task that notifies the care staff on the tablet PC to be aware of a particular care need (such as ‘prompt to drink’ in this case) over a period of time (for example every day for the next week) and, if relevant, access the resident’s body map image.
In this way care-Log+ provides an exception-based environment in which records are gathered very easily and in the volume required through use of the tablet PCs, and then automatically filtered by the software between the few that require immediate review and the majority which are held for reporting as and when required in the future.
If you would like to discuss any functionality or issues raised in this blog please call one of our team on 01892 834406 or e-mail us on info@easylog.co.uk
When a CQC Inspector is auditing your care records one of the main things they’ll be looking for is to see that the recordings made in one are reflected in any other related documentation. So, for example, notes made on a carer’s shift that record a resident has been not eating to their usual pattern over the last couple of days or so, should be matched by evidence of a recent review of the ‘Eating and Drinking’ care plan. In this way written observations are closely linked to a reassessment of the required care interventions to ensure that the desired care outcomes remain achievable.
This of course describes basic good care and nursing practice but with the volume of care recording undertaken can it be guaranteed that this systematic review happens on every occasion?
A care plan is the central document that defines a service user’s care. Its on-going relationship is therefore not only linked to shift notes but with health assessments, risk assessments but prior to that with pre-assessments and social care (or life story) background information.
It is therefore pleasing to hear from our care-Log customers how the definable flexibility in the software is being used to ensure that each home’s unique and diverse documentation sets are being updated and reviewed as a complete entity. As Lesley Plumb from The Chestnuts care home in Meopham near Gravesend, Kent says, “At a CQC inspection, we were able to demonstrate how all the care we provided was both personalised and “in the round” – in other words, any problems raised were answered and explanations given, leaving no loose ends in relation to a resident’s care.“
And of course that’s a very reassuring position to be in before any CQC Inspection.
For more information about the functionality in care-Log and how it can be harnessed to benefit your care home or supported living care facility please contact us.
We have written before about how technology is changing the working landscape, particularly mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. And, as the use of tablets increases for care home evaluations and assessments, one of the trends we are seeing is more staff logging in to their devices with near field communication, or NFC, tags rather than conventional passwords.
Advantages of logging in with an NFC tag include:
Instant access without typing
Users cannot log in with another person’s password
Tablets can also be used to record attendance information, such as shift clock-in/out and breaks
Tags are available in many forms, including keyfob, adhesive label and wristbands
Using a tablet and NFC tag is also quicker and more convenient than having to remember and type in a password every time the employee needs to log in. Tags are particularly beneficial when the tablet software has timed out for security reasons because the user can easily log back in without having to re-enter a password, reducing timeouts to an absolute minimum.
For more information about using tablets and NFC tags to update care records and other client data on the move, please contact us.
DCM graph showing assessments over a period of time
easyLog’s market leading care-Log+ care home and supported living management software now includes the University of Bradford’s Dementia Care Mapping as one of its standard assessment tools. And, implemented on tablet PCs, it becomes a very powerful, convenient and easy to use platform for recording the results of Dementia Care Mapping observations.
Dementia Mapping seeks to record what everyday life is like for a person with dementia. It was developed by the University of Bradford’s School of Dementia Studies in the early 1990s. easyLog’s implementation of Bradford Dementia Mapping software on tablet PCs means that carers (or Mappers as they are known during observation sessions) have a simple and portable touch-screen platform on which to record their observations.
Our Dementia Care Mapping software presents the carer with a list of service users from which they select the residents they are about to observe and the length of time of the assessment. The tablet PC then displays a timeline for each service user broken down by defined period – for example five or ten minute blocks. Dementia Mapping then occurs by the carer selecting a Behaviour Category and the ME (Mood/Engagement value) score occurring at that moment. Several observations can be recorded at any point as different behaviours occur with the option to also add relevant comments.
The Dementia Care Mapping observations are automatically collated and presented in both numerical and graphical form across a range of dates or for a specific day. The Dementia Care Mapping software graphs can be displayed in line graph and bar chart format with optional selection of specific Behaviour Categories and ME values.
Dementia care is an increasing element of many of easyLog clients’ care services. And, according to statistics published in The Lancet in December 2014 (Global Burden of Disease Study 2013), the need for dementia care is only set to rise. The report is an in-depth look at changing patterns of 240 separate causes of death worldwide in 188 countries during the 23 years between 1990 and 2013 and highlights dementia as now being the third largest cause of death (source: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61682-2/abstract).
Soon managers will be able to monitor attendance, authorise hours and calculate pay for their mobile or office-based staff on the move and without any need for a PC whatsoever.
Our development team is currently building a web browser and Android version of our popular e-Log attendance management software with Html5, CSS3 and PhoneGap development tools. This will allow our clocking management solutions to be operated on the cloud, anywhere and anytime – and with any kind of device.
Watch this blog for news of trial downloads in the near future.
Currently easyLog offers a range of staff clocking options using NFC-enabled Android tablets and phones.
Anyone working in the care sector knows how vitally important a comprehensive and clear care plan is to the ongoing quality of care and well-being of the service user. A care plan is a document that must be understandable to the service user and their relatives as well as to the care team responsible for the delivery of its content. What’s more, under scrutiny from CQC, it is an auditable document on which an inspector will base his or her assessment of the quality of care provided and outcomes achieved.
Key to creating effective care plans is ensuring that they give relevant clinical detail together with the practical lifestyle and personal information required by the care staff – the definition of a good person centred care plan. So, when care providers consider computerising their care plans, do they seriously consider how service users’ care plans may change over time – or indeed changes in the type of care service that their organisation may in future provide?
Watch our video to see different care plan styles
Flexibility is crucial to achieve this. Our care-Log+ care home management software has always been designed around this principle but in the area of care plans – and in the hands of our users – it continues to deliver multiple styles of care plan across ever evolving types of care delivery. Take a look at our care record mangement overview video to see some of the variety of care plan styles that our care home clients use.
As you may know we recently gave our specialist product for domiciliary care and supported living providers, Home Care Studio, an overhaul – and now we have completed a revamp of our web pages for community-based care customers to match.
We have divided the section into two parts for simplicity, covering the Home Care Studio software and visit recording hardware options.
The Home Care Studio pages detail the six main features of the system: client records and care plans, rostering, payroll and invoicing, staff records and training, the easyLog care-Logger app and risk assessments. Each description includes sample screen images that can be expanded to full size with a click of a mouse so you can see how it all looks for yourself.
The visit recording pages cover three options popular with our domiciliary care and supported living customers: mobile phone and tablet-based devices, SIM-based devices and our range of specialist terminals for mobile workers.
You can find out more about our software and hardware products for community-based care providers by checking out our web pages or discussing the options with one of our team.
Community care and supported living providers should take note that we have given our specialist home care software a makeover so it’s now even more effective if you have smaller numbers of service users. We have also given it a new name – Home Care Studio
The areas we have upgraded are:
Rotas – we have made it easier to find staff to fulfil contracts by providing multiple rota views to meet a range of circumstances
Risk assessment screens – these now feature improved scorecards so you can add more details
Care screens – we have included social care and person-centred care planning to give a better all round picture of the service user as an individual
Reporting – this now offers the option of printing out care documents in part or full for greater flexibility
Ease of use – we have improved functionality for handheld devices, such as smartphones and tablets, so it’s easier to make initial assessments, log service user information, clock in and out and check rota information on the move
If you want to know more about how Home Care Studio can help you save time and provide higher standards of care, visit our supported living web pages or contact us.
Phone us now on 01892 834406 or request a callback
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