You never know who is going to end up in a care home. Sometimes it is somebody’s choice, but the high cost of nursing homes and the toll on the rest of the family members mean that these places are called ‘care homes.’ Administrative software plays a vital role in daily life as intermediaries between patients, staff, and providers. Here are the features of a good care home software
Suitability for long-term residents
The software must meet long-term residents’ needs and the professionals responsible for their care. Therefore, the software must have the minimum features necessary to ensure that patients receive appropriate care and treatment, are looked after appropriately, and can lead to independent existence in a safe environment. The software must be adapted to different age groups, and specific patient care needs such as visual or hearing impairments or limited mobility.
Information management with IT support
The information required for the efficient management of care homes is fragmented and dispersed across different sources, including patient records in hospital or specialist centers, personal health information in general practitioners’ surgeries, or other care providers’ directories. To manage a patient’s entire care process effectively and efficiently, data must be collected from many sources and available electronically in one single place. An integrated software suite enables patient information management to be stress-free and with a minimum of time loss. Information is automatically synchronized in real-time and available to all involved parties quickly.
Comprehensive care process support
The software must support daily routines and provide all stakeholders with a transparent overview of the processes taking place at any given time (such as operations, care interventions, and care planning). This information is available in real-time, does not depend on the staff’s availability at workstations, and is always up to date. Daily routines are optimized by procedures tailored to the care home in question and can be individually configured according to organizational requirements.
Multi-channel availability
The software must be available in various ways and, depending on the user’s requirements, be accessible directly on their workstation or via the Internet if they are not permanently present at the care home. All this information, which is available electronically in a timely fashion, is also used by external parties such as specialists, insurance providers, and family members. The software must provide all users with data that can be checked against patient records, manipulated, and exported for processing in various ways. The data must also be accessible via interfaces subject to legal regulations to external parties.
Easy to use and optimized for optimal user efficiency
The software’s functionality must be easy to understand even by non-professional users. It must enable the user to enter the relevant patient data quickly and accurately. The data input form should not be too complex, as this is only necessary for experts.
Flexibility, scalability, and resource management
The software must allow for rapid expansion of users (staff members). Also, all stakeholders have access to the same information and can use it in various ways – this way, a more significant part of the organization’s time can be saved.
The software must also allow for easy integration of new functionality into existing processes (this applies particularly to processes that have been optimized during previous installations). This way, the software can be freely adapted to the users’ requirements and used as a basis for scalability. Thus it is possible to start with a small installation in one care home and then expand it with additional care homes.
A good care home administration software must be designed according to professional principles, including focusing on the actual needs rather than individual wishes or personal preferences of residents or relatives.