Harnessing the power of Real-Time Information
SPONSORED STORY – There’s little that is not changing at TriCare; new renovations, refurbishments, constructions and IT systems are ensuring the family owned and operated aged care provider is set for the future.
Andrea Beach (Enrolled Nurse) of TriCare’s Labrador Aged Care Residence using eCase on Microsoft Pro
With over 45 years as a family owned and operated company, TriCare enjoys a reputable track record. Today the organisation employs more than 1500 staff dedicated to providing a high standard of service to the residents throughout 24 Aged Care Residences and Retirement communities in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
In 2014, the organisation started seeking an alternative to their labour intensive paper-based management system. With an understanding of industry trends, TriCare went to market via competitive tender to find a suitable care management software system that would provide better data and work flows.
After reviewing 12 systems, and short-listing two, the organisation chose Health Metrics’ software eCase, based on its superior real-time data provision, and integration across other modes of care. The eCase software is now live across 11 of TriCare’s sites, with tangible benefits already realised.
“We like eCase because it runs live”, says Daniel Aitchison, Aged Care Manager at TriCare. “It provides at-a-glance visibility as to what is happening and you can use it on any device. Our facilities are geographically dispersed, but we can see the larger issues, or drill down into specific facilities.
“Care staff enter data at the point of care, rather than it being added to a desktop computer at the end of the day. At anytime our nursing staff have visibility over what’s been done or what hasn’t.”
Health Metrics CEO Steven Strange says “decision support and business intelligence are not for exclusively for executives. The aim of our software is to provide decision support for staff at every level. One day in the future we’ll laugh about how once upon a time, ‘business intelligence’ and ‘decision management’ were the sole purview of executives.
“eCase allows care staff to see in real-time, both the philosophical and the policy impact of a specific resident. This can in real terms relate to, for example, a resident who has had more than a certain number of falls within a given period or a visualisation of compliance levels. The policy impact manifests as a generated pathway (sometimes clinical) which provides relevant tasks (sometimes care related) that hold the staff accountable and protect the resident.”
Along with the eCase system, TriCare have implemented extensive IT infrastructure, with WiFi in all facilities, and Microsoft Surface Pro tablets for all care staff.
“It’s a big investment, in time and energy”, says Mr Aitchison. “It’s vital to take the time to ensure you get the right software partner and IT structure in place, and then to implement it with appropriate training.
“We’ve gone from minimal IT infrastructure, where only nurses were using the computers at a site, to a place where now all care staff need to know how to use a Surface Pro. Some staff hadn’t even used a computer before, but now they’ve become some of the better users.
“Feedback from nurses has been very positive and they’ve found easy access to information via eCase. Handover is easier, messaging is easier – the whole system allows for better flow of information, and eliminates risk.”
In an era when understanding the consumer is critical, eCase’s built in waitlist functionality has allowed TriCare to understand data regarding enquiries, transitions and movements of patients, providing a platform upon which expansion plans can be made.
