Signature Care recently adopted Acredia Care’s eNRMC-compliant Rx management system throughout their Queensland and New South Wales aged care facilities to enhance the quality of care and medication management.
Before implementing Acredia Care’s eNRMC system, Signature Care had been using another supplier for clinical management software. However, after approximately 18 months, they sought a more integrated and user-friendly solution. Acredia Care stood out as a suitable choice, offering a system that met the transitional eNRMC requirements and is an authorised vendor on the Australian Digital Health Agency register. View the register here.
One of the key challenges was ensuring that the new system was user-friendly for all stakeholders, including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. To address this, Acredia Care collaborated closely with Signature Care and in particular Emily Davidson RN, their Quality Manager for QLD and NSW, allowing them to have input in the system’s development.
Requests for new features or improvements to address shortcomings in the previous system were accommodated by Acredia Care.
“The collaboration between Signature Care and Acredia Care is the secret to our user-friendly medication management solution. We are constantly seeking feedback from end users and refactoring the system to streamline workflow while ensuring we meet all legislative requirements”
Dr Charles Chang, Managing Director, Acredia Care
Roll-Out and Training
Signature Care piloted the Acredia Care eNRMC system at their 180-bed Maryborough QLD facility in April 2022. The pilot was highly successful, and within 3-4 months, the system was rolled out to other homes. During the pilot, continual feedback from prescribers and pharmacists was gathered, enabling customisation to suit their specific needs.
The training was crucial for a smooth transition to the new system. Signature Care worked with Acredia Care to develop its internal training program, with Ms Davidson personally delivering training to all facilities.
Commenting on the training process Ms Davidson shared, “Staff were excited about the system and appreciated being able to contribute and see their feedback implemented quickly,” she said.
“A key part of the process was a close working relationship with Acredia Care’s development team. Quite often I’d ask the dev team for changes requested by staff and within 30 minutes we’d refresh to see them live, Amazing,” Ms Davidson added.
Benefits
The Acredia Care eNRMC system brought numerous benefits to Signature Care’s facilities:
- Automated Progress Notes: Progress notes are now automatically generated, saving time for nurses and allowing them to spend more time with residents.
- Handover Notes: Handover notes are automatically provided to Enrolled Nurses (ENs) and Registered Nurses (RNs) during shift changes, ensuring critical information is not overlooked.
- Medication Management: The system streamlines medication management by enabling direct collaboration between the facility, doctors, and pharmacists. Its intuitive interface design reduced the need for extensive user training to allow GPs, Pharmacists, and Nurses, to adapt to the new system.
- Error Prevention: The system prompts important steps, such as blood tests (BGL) for diabetic residents or evaluating medicines with a PRN status, reducing errors and improving compliance.
- Customisable Checklists: The highly customisable system allowed Signature Care to build checklists for clinical, administrative, and care staff, simplifying daily, weekly, and monthly tasks.
According to Ms Davidson, the Customisable Checklists have been a ‘game-changer’.
“We now use the Customisable Checklists as part of our onboarding and training for new staff to ensure nothing is missed”.
Emily Davidson RN
The successful implementation of Acredia Care’s eNRMC system has brought significant benefits to Signature Care’s existing aged care facilities that now account for over 1000 beds across QLD and NSW, with plans for further homes across both states.
Acredia Care is currently offering a special 2-for-1 offer: Medication Management + Clinical Management or Quality Management modules, to coincide with the latest round of the eNRMC adoption grant. This offer is only available at the time of writing.
Sponsored by Acredia Care
