How an app helped Villa Maria Catholic Homes reduce medication incidents
When aged care providers Villa Maria and Catholic Homes merged in 2015 to form Villa Maria Catholic Homes, a project was initiated to bring all facilities up to the latest versions of Telstra Health’s MedMobile application and Medication Management software. This project helped to further integrate their residential aged care facilities and streamline the reporting and training processes.
We spoke with Willowbrooke facility’s Residential Services Manager, Rebecca Healy, to find out how utilising Telstra Health’s residential aged care solutions helped to bring Villa Maria Catholic Homes together as one organisation.
Training and support
For some Villa Maria Catholic Homes facilities, administering medications via the MedMobile app was a new process. Telstra Health provided a dedicated training program to help staff learn how to use MedMobile and get the most out of the application.
“Overall, the implementation and training process went really well”, said Rebecca. “I was initially apprehensive about how some less tech-savvy staff would take to using tablet devices to administer medications, but I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth the training process and overall transition went.”
Enhanced mobility
One of Villa Maria Catholic Homes’ facilities has taken the use of tablet devices to the next level and are now using mobile phones to input and view Chart information. The ability to manage resident and clinical information via a mobile or tablet device enables aged care staff to spend less time in the nurse’s station and more time with residents.
“Staff have found the MedMobile application user friendly and love that by utilising a mobile device they can take photos of wounds at the bedside and upload it to the software then and there”, stated Rebecca.
Transparency across facilities
As all Villa Maria Catholic Homes facilities have adopted the latest versions of MedMobile and the Medication Management solution, a level of uniformity now exists throughout the organisation which has enabled staff to work across multiple facilities with ease.
The ability for staff to work across facilities has also been enhanced with the use of resident photos built into the software.
“Being able to take a photo of a resident with the tablet device and upload it to the software has been really handy”, stated Rebecca. “When staff work in a facility they’re not as familiar with, they can easily identify residents during a medication round with the resident photo feature.”
Bringing key information to the surface
Visual indicators are used within MedMobile to make it easier for staff to identify the status of a medication round. Rounds that have been completed are highlighted in green, rounds that require one or more medications to be administered later are highlighted in yellow, while rounds that contain missed medications are highlighted in red. The same visual cues are also used within a medication round to indicate whether each individual resident has been administered all of their medications.
“The colour coding within MedMobile has helped streamline medication rounds for staff, because they can instantly see which residents have had their medications administered”, said Rebecca.
Medication Management software also ensures that medications are not missed, as a reason must be captured to explain any non-administered medications. This process has helped to assist in reducing medication errors and compliance risks for Villa Maria Catholic Homes.
“At the start of a medication round, staff must electronically sign on to the device which, together with their individual login, makes it easier to track the staff member who has administered the medications. This process, combined with the medication alerts, has eliminated missed signatures that previously may have indicated medications not administered.”
