Point of care healthcare is onsite testing and the immediate administering of care for patients and residents and frees care providers from the need for transfers. Point of care testing (POCT) refers to testing performed outside of a laboratory and is instead, conducted near a patient in acute care or resident in long term care.
POC kiosks are an essential part of point of care, as these devices make CNA POC charting in a long term care software system easier. POC kiosks can take the form of wall-mounted PCs, desktops, or wall-mounted tablets used by Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) to check on a resident’s vitals, ADLs, reports of pain, and the quantity of food consumed. An effective nursing home software, when used in POC kiosks, enables nurses and physicians to collect data about resident care. The data collected usually includes:
- Activities of daily living (ADLs)
- Restorative nursing
- Therapies
- Meals
- Mood observations
POC CNA Charting in POC Kiosks
It is protocol for nurses and physicians to update their Kardex, or, the overview of resident care in a long term care facility, while at their POC kiosks after every shift. It is important for nurses and CNAs to be familiar with what must be entered into the Kardex so that they know when and for what purpose to spend time at their POC kiosks.
The Kardex is separate from the patient chart, and it contains all relevant patient or resident information that nurses and physicians may require to deliver optimum care to the resident in the nursing home. POC CNA charting is now easier than ever thanks to the electronic Kardex options available in long term care software systems. The data in a state-of-the-art electronic Kardex typically includes:
- Code Status
- Preferred Language, Room Preferences, and Resident Hobbies and Preferences
- Dietary Requirements, Fluid Restrictions, Meal Preferences
- Adaptive Devices, Contracture Devices
- ADLs, Ambulation, Bowel and Bladder Conditions and Incontinence Maintenance
- Bathing Preferences (Method, Time of Day, Bathing Days)
- Fall Interventions, Alarms and Restraints, Oxygen Levels, Sleeping Patterns, Skin Interventions, and Miscellaneous Notes
As for the benefits of Kardex cheatsheets to POC CNA Charting at POC kiosks, they include:
- Increased accuracy
- Increased speed
- Greater privacy and security for resident data
- Increased staff productivity
- Reduced cost
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7 Tips for Managing Point of Care Solutions
Nursing home administrators may be interested in implementing point of care solutions in their nursing homes, especially considering the numerous advantages of point of care healthcare. So what can administrators do to ensure the proper management of their POC kiosks? Hexnode lists the following seven tips for managing these kiosks:
- Choose the right device: It all begins with choosing the right device. Should one use a tablet, a laptop, or a fixed PC as POC kiosks? For the effective delivery of point of care, CNAs in the facility should provide feedback on which devices work best for them. For example, CNAs might find that tablets work better beside a patient, while a fixed PC with the long term care EHR installed could work best at a nurses’ station.
- Lock down the device: Once the devices have been purchased and used as POC kiosks, the IT team of the nursing home should lock down the device, or, limit the applications that can be stored on it. This means installing only the relevant nursing home software and blocking the downloading of any unauthorized software, like the Facebook app, into the device.
- Consider remote maintenance and management: Remote maintenance and management are especially useful when POC kiosks are in tablet form. Nursing home leadership should talk to their EHR provider about their care plan software and seek remote maintenance and updates for the software. Also, the nursing home IT team should have remote access to the POC kiosks, making troubleshooting and fixing of problems easier.
- Keep the software updated: This applies to updates to the long term care EMR software and firmware updates for the POC kiosks. Manufacturers of POC devices tend to provide the latter. Hence, one should always check that the devices are up to date with the latest software.
- Ensure devices have a “lost mode”: Portable POC kiosks like tablets run the risk of being misplaced. A “lost mode” enables the tracking and recovery of lost devices. A lost mode also prevents unauthorized access to resident information in the care plan software installed in the device.
- Ensure data security: Although long term care software providers have their own layers of data security, POC kiosks should also have their own security layers too. For example, passwords for users and user session timeouts that require logging in again if the device was inactive for some time. This ensures that if unauthorized people get their hands on a POC device, they cannot access patient or resident information.
- Think far into the future: Technology is constantly changing. Hence, nursing home administrators should investigate whether their POC devices are compatible with future long term care software systems and how long the device will last (wear and tear). Leadership should always seek the best devices for their POC kiosks, but they should do so within budget.
Why Nursing Homes Should Invest in POC Kiosks
Point of care testing has steadily increased over the past forty years. Meanwhile, POC CNA Charting has been made easier due to the advantages offered by an electronic Kardex—advantages that include increased data accuracy, reduced costs to the facility, increased workflow efficiency, and greater data privacy. POC kiosks are an essential part of point of care, and the above management tips ensure that facilities make the most of them.
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