Modern technological advancements—like point of care testing devices, remote patient monitoring, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—have steadily accelerated the speed and precision of healthcare, allowing caregivers to effectively provide better care and spend more quality time with their patients. And this trend has been especially the case during the COVID-19 pandemic with several medical technologies that have been implemented on a mass scale.
One crucial form of such healthcare technology is nursing home management software, which works on various levels—clinically, financially, and operationally—so healthcare providers like long term care facilities can provide more patient-centered care while improving their workflow efficiency and the accuracy of their financial accounts.
5 Benefits of Assisted Living Facility Software and Nursing Home Management Software
Modern nursing home software is cloud-based with digitized data rather than traditional paper documentation, which proved inaccurate and caused unnecessary medical errors.
While medical technology has advanced and with it assisted living facility software, some long term care leaders may still be hesitant to adopt an electronic system of documentation. Thus, it is worthwhile reviewing the benefits of using nursing home management software:
1. Improved Care Coordination and Communication
Long term care EHR software systems enable caregivers to track and manage Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), create customized care plans, and monitor progress easily, as data is digitally stored in a centralized location. All authorized staff can access the relevant information when needed and track resident outcomes via the KPI dashboard, which is usually a built-in feature of effective nursing home management software systems.
Communication also improves between caregivers with better care collaboration between different departments because all care planning, clinical decisions, and incidents are logged. Thus, regardless of who is working on the shift, they will be fully informed and aware of everything that has occurred.
2. Efficient Resident Scheduling and Resource Management
A well-designed LTC software will have systems in place so facilities can efficiently schedule residents’ appointments and activities. Scheduling tools also help to allocate resources, equipment, and rooms so that there are no disruptions to care. Furthermore, they help staff avoid unnecessary conflicts and give staff sufficient time to prepare for their appointments. This ultimately improves the quality of care for residents.
3. Accurate Financial Billing Management
Financial billing is rather important for long term care facilities, as it effectively determines the financial stability of a facility. Therefore, the most effective nursing home software systems will have financial management modules—like accounts receivable, resident funds, general ledger, and payroll—enabling facilities to track all accounting and operational procedures accurately.
4. Convenient ePrescribing
Going paperless and sending electronic messages to pharmacies is much more efficient than using fax machines or writing handwritten notes. Further, medication prescribed electronically eliminates the risk of illegible handwritten and transcription errors.
Facilities that use a state-of-the-art assisted living facility software system will improve the accuracy of their medication prescriptions while also improving communication and integration between the facility and their partnership pharmacies.
5. Accurate Point of Care Documentation
The best long term care software is compatible with handheld devices that give caregivers greater mobility during their shifts. Using handheld devices means caregivers can be mobile and update resident care plans as they move between residents. This allows for accurate data entries at the point of care while beside a resident, instead of updating charts later, when vital information may be forgotten and not recorded.
Contact us here if you would like to test drive our user-friendly long term care software.
Potential Drawbacks of Assisted Living Scheduling Software
While it is undeniable that technological advancements like assisted living scheduling software provide multiple benefits, it is equally important to recognize that nursing home management software systems have potential drawbacks, which include:
- Nurse-to-Patient Interaction: Skeptics of nursing homes and nursing home software believe that using medical technology will reduce resident interaction time, as nurses will be required to spend more time at nursing kiosks to enter information. They will also be required to look at a computer screen when entering resident data rather than at the resident, which will undoubtedly cause less face-to-face interaction.
- Generational Acceptance: In the current nursing workforce, approximately fifty percent of nurses are baby boomers and are not as tech-savvy as younger generations. This means that facilities may encounter resistance to assisted living facility software from the older generation of nursing staff. It may also take more time to teach older nurses to use the long term care software.
- Data and Security Threats to Assisted Living eMAR: The vast majority of long term care EHRs store data on the cloud, which means that the data is more vulnerable to being hacked. For instance, in 2020, there were 642 reported cases of breached accounts in healthcare. So facilities must choose a nursing home software system with comprehensive security checks to minimize security threats.
The Impact of Nursing Home Management Software
As with any new technological integration, there will be both benefits and drawbacks, which can impact the speed and level of adoption. Technologies like nursing home management software are no different, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
Studies show that when facilities implement nursing home software, there are significant improvements in workflow efficiency, better communication between staff and leadership, higher levels of staff training, increased speed of resident care, and decreased regulation citations.
Furthermore, as digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics advance and the younger generation of nurses gradually replace the baby boomers, there is no doubt that healthcare will see an increased use of digital technologies in the coming years.
For more on recent trends in long term care, read our blog and subscribe to the LTC Heroes podcast.
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