Computer monitoring to provide more care time for residents
Caressant Care bringing in point-of-care to enhance PointClickCare assessments
Wednesday February 18, 2009 -- Deron Hamel
As part of a corporate-wide initiative, Caressant Care’s 15 long-term care homes will be adding point-of-care (POC) technology to the PointClickCare assessment tool in 2009 to replace the current paper-based system — an effort that will cut down on documentation time and increase time spent tending to residents’ needs.

The POC system, which will see computer screens set up in hallways and outside dining areas, will allow caregivers to instantly document and retrieve information, which, in turn, is expected to result in more time spent on resident care.

Under the new system, caregivers will be able to instantly access residents’ vital information. With the current system, if a staff member needs a record of a resident’s dietary routine from the past six months they need to manually search through files and charts to retrieve the information.

Because the system is paperless, it will be a more environmentally-friendly alternative to paper documentation.

The system will also provide greater accountability for personal support workers, more accurate data for caregivers and allow department managers to spend more time monitoring, notes Marjorie Verner, the administrator at Caressant Care Cobden.

“We’re very excited about it,” says Verner.

“There will be more time spent with the residents and less time spent documenting. It will be more accurate, because (information) will be put into the computer right away.”

Suzanne Mezenberg, the administrator at Caressant Care on Bonnie Place in St. Thomas, tells The Morning Report that the new system will provide caregivers at Caressant Care homes with the ability to perform “more thorough, in-depth assessments.”

Verner and Mezenberg note that computerized charting will also complement the Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set (RAI MDS), which will be utilized throughout Ontario’s long-term care homes in 2009.

The RAI MDS is a system of computerized care management tools, which can assess and monitor the needs of residents in long-term care homes on an individualized basis.

“We think it will go hand in hand with the new RAI assessment tool,” says Mezenberg.

“It will help us pull off the data more accurately to complete the assessment, and it will be more time-efficient for the staff, as well, because they won’t have to flip through old charts to get information.”

As a long-term care provider, what are the core programs you will be focusing on in 2009? If you have a story you would like to share, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.

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