The LD care village of Solund, Denmark provides a home for about 230 adults with significant and lasting mental and physical disabilities. For more than a year now the staff has been using specially designed tablets for their care delivery and documentation work, experiencing a large efficiency boost and fewer incidents, among other regarding medication.
The digital solution is part of a project to overcome inefficiency and create a best practice regarding communication and documentation of the care plans – across shifts and different professions – helping their residents to a better care.
“About 90 percent of our residents don’t have any kind of verbal language. This means that some of the information that they cannot directly communicate them selves has to be done in a stringent manner in our care plans and care notes” says Lone Bahnsen Rodt, who is the CEO of the care village.
The tablets in the residents’ rooms have all the information about how to brush teeth, where and when to take a walk or even the more health oriented care notes about medication and nursing. When a task is completed the staff tics a box letting everyone else know, even across shifts, where we are in today’s plan. And if something important hasn’t been done a subtle indication will caution the staff:
“The tablets help us document our work throughout the day as opposed to compiling this to the end of the shift, keying in all that has happened in various documents and systems just before going home. At the same time, it reduces the risk of making mistakes and increases our efficiency. Everyone of course needs training, but we are well on the way, foreseeing a great potential for the digital support of our work,” says Anne Christensen, who is a manager at one of the 14 living units.
So far her living unit has seen a drastic decrease of incidents regarding medication oversights, with only one case since October 2015, where Sekoia was introduced. By comparison the same period of time the year before contained 13 cases.
By focusing on the success stories rather than the opposite the specific care work is being appreciated and supported by information sharing, standards, video guides and tips for colleagues.
“The residents don’t have to adapt to us, we should adapt to them. For instance, a person with autism doesn’t appreciate 10 different ways of brushing teeth. So if it works best doing so in bed, that is how it should be done – no matter if it is a trained nurse or a temp, who is assisting. That information is easy to pass on using the tablets,” says Anne Christensen.
One of the goals going digital was to share and classify what we know and learn, in an area typically dominated by inherent and individual approaches, Lone Bahnsen Rodt explains.
Sekoia
