At Access eHealth Technologies, our goal of building a streamlined, effective, and cost-efficient medical software requires the input of our clients to be the best it possibly can. That is why Access eHealth is part of an ongoing initiative to gain insight into the problems that medical facilities face everyday. Part of this initiative is attending the Virtual Reverse Trade Show hosted by the University of Calgary that explores rapid solutions for COVID-19 in continuing care. We had the opportunity to listen to real-life issues that medical facilities face during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the industry can better prepare against future outbreaks. Thank you to the industry leaders that participated—we’ve collected some very helpful insight from the event. Infection Prevention and Control is the next topic in exploring the issues faced at the Virtual Reverse Trade Show.
What are some of the issues medical facilities face today?
COVID-19 has transformed our everyday lives, and with a rapidly changing environment, medical professionals within long-term care facilities are expected to pivot and adapt to the rules and best practices set out by the World Health Organization (WHO). During the rise of COVID-19, rule additions and modifications were observed on a weekly—or even daily—basis. These changes resulted in constant modifications to facility protocols, causing confusion of what rules were still in effect between care staff. One of the most received questions surround the protocol of medical face masks:
- Donning and doffing
- What areas of the facility are appropriate to wear or remove my face mask?
- Wear Duration
- What is the maximum duration for a care staff working in a long-term care environment to wear a face mask?
- How long does it take for a medical face mask to become permeable to the coronavirus?
The effects of this confusion are further compounded when care staff are expected to disseminate information to concerned family members and residents alike. What are the protocols of visitors wearing a mask and how long should they wear their masks for?
These times of uncertainty elevate the level of stress for all parties. Regarding Infection Prevention and Control, we listened to medical professionals explain key issues during the pandemic and the solutions they were looking for.
Easy to Use.
During rapidly changing regulations and protocols, care staff do not have the luxury of developing deeply rooted habits and behaviours—especially during periods of high stress. Facilities require a solution which deliver a simple, intuitive user interface for care staff to pick up quickly and start using effectively.
Knowledge Retention and Reinforcement
As most adult learners may lose up to 80% of information given during first exposure, how do we reinforce infection prevention and control practices during times of high stress and uncertainty? Education must also be delivered in a rapid manner. This is especially true as researching bodies learn more about COVID-19’s method of transmission and chain of infection.
How can we address these problems?
AccessEMR includes a variety of features that make it simple for medical professionals to receive the most important information quickly.
Notification and News Board
Care staff can immediately locate critical information and pressing issues from the previous shift by looking at AccessEMR’s dashboard. For example, within Quality Assurance & Performance Improvement, care staff can find current resident infections or a report of the most recent incidents.
AccessEMR’s dashboard also includes a News Board where administrators, managers, and directors can disseminate critical information to their care staff, such as ongoing policy changes of family visits, donning and doffing face masks, or even the latest data on COVID-19’s methods of transmission. The Notifications board is also available for any staff members to post observations during their shift and notify the next shift of any concerns.
Flat UI Design
We understand that learning new tools can sometimes be difficult, especially in long-term care facilities where the work environment can be intense, stressful and complex. It needs to have an expedited learning process and be easy to use during day-to-day operations. That’s why AccessEMR was meticulously designed to have a clean user interface, removing unnecessary clutter and making it easy to integrate AccessEMR into your care staff’s workflow.
Quick Reference Guide
During high-stress environments, it can be difficult at times to recall information during a moment’s notice. AccessEMR offers a Quick Reference Guide for medical professionals to quickly refer to the properties of any given medication and their drug-to-drug interactions.
Want to learn more?
We hope that by building a robust system with a simple learning curve, outbreaks become easier to track and manage, staff occupational health and safety is improved, resident health and safety is safeguarded, and the heightened stress amongst staff and residents is alleviated.
Access eHealth Technologies is committed to providing a long-term care EMR solution tailored to your workflow. Book a demo with us today and learn more about how AccessEMR can help you and your facility.