Tag Archive for: Environmental Sensors

QAPI

Qapi program for nursing homesIf you’re in skilled nursing, you’re probably in the process of figuring that out right now. Because, as you know, QAPI is the new CMS law of the land.

According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), “QAPI is a data-driven, proactive approach to improving the quality of life, care, and services in nursing homes.” It starts with quality assurance (QA), the steps facilities take to meet quality standards and regulations. Then it adds performance improvement (PI). QAPI (QA and PI together) is meant to help facilities meet minimum regulatory quality standards, and then to make the quality of services even better.

Does Your Nurse Call System Matter for QAPI?

ABSOLUTELY!

Central to QAPI is the satisfaction of residents and their families, and call response time is a great place to start. Do your residents trust that when they request help it will come quickly and will address their needs? Or do they wait, frustrated or afraid, wondering how long before help will arrive?

Built into every RCare system is the RMetrix reporting and analytics package that lets you track call response times, so that you can assess your current status, and set target goals.

  • What is an acceptable amount of time for a client to wait for help and what isn’t?
  • How well are you doing at staying inside that acceptable range?
  • Are your staffing levels right for each place and time?

With RCare, you can track call response time for the organization, or filter it by:

  • Group – facility, wing, hallway, or whatever grouping makes sense for your community.
  • Time – to see how things are going by shift.
  • Enterprise – For large organizations, Enterprise RMetrix lets you evaluate response times across your entire organization at as broad or fine-grained a level of detail as you need.

Frequent caller reports let you see:

  • Who is calling?
  • Are the calls primarily from just a few residents?
  • Are call numbers higher on one shift or in one part of your facility?

RPhone and The Resident’s Experience

Best describes qapi program

  • RCare’s integrated HIPAA-compliant mobile handset, the RPhone, has the unique “I got it” feature that helps both residents and staff. It lets a staff member claim a call that comes through, preventing unclaimed calls, and preventing duplication of effort, which helps make the best use of your staff’s time.
  • It provides personalized information about the resident, so that staff can offer greater personalization and comfort, even if the caregiver or the resident is new. It allows staff members to phone the resident directly to let them know help is on the way, and allows them to find out more information about what is needed.
  • With the RPhone, care staff check in when they arrive at the room, and check out when they leave. They can record the services performed during the call. This is powerful information for your quality teams, as they try to understand more deeply the processes they’re working to improve.
  • The powerful RMetrix reporting helps you identify specific calls that fall outside the norms, to help you investigate potential problems and get to their root cause.

Your Organization’s Other Services:

Your QAPI program must address all services provided by your facility and thus extends to all departments.That’s another reason RCare’s call system is so powerful. Staff across the facility benefit from the system, and residents never need to pull a cord.

  • Passive sensors integrated directly into the system can monitor temperatures of every room and send alerts if temps stray out of the normal range.
  • Integrated water sensors report flooding or overflows.
  • Universal contact sensors report doors that are open when they should be closed, or closed when they should be open.
  • Refrigerator temperature sensors continuously check and record temps, and send alerts for temperatures out of the safe range.
  • Smoke detectors, integrated right into the nurse call system, so everyone is alerted if there’s a problem in a room.

By now, you should have your written QAPI plan in place, and implementation should have begun. As you plan your performance improvement projects, it’s critical to have objective performance measurements of where you started, where you want to go, as well as the ability to monitor the effects of your changes. You need data to evaluate where you have opportunities for improvement, and where you’re exceeding expectations. You need to measure progress, and to provide insight to investigations of where problems persist. Root Cause Analysis provides the most insight when it’s evidence-based and drawn from reliable data.

RCare is more than a nurse call system. Add RCare to your QAPI! Contact us today.

Heat Waves and Senior Housing

When the outside temperature rises, it’s not only an inconvenient situation. Heat waves can be deadly to older and more vulnerable residents.

This lesson was driven home starkly in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Florida, where nine residents died after losing power in their nursing community.

It doesn’t take a catastrophic hurricane to make heat a deadly problem for seniors. Nearly 400 Americans die from heat waves each year. “Most of them are elderly people who often don’t realize when they are overheating and in danger.” (agingcare.com)

This is an awesome responsibility that falls on senior communities, to prevent and respond to a potential temperature increase, even if the resident doesn’t realize the danger or severity of the situation.

RCare Temperature Sensors (TS9 and TS9E) to mitigate the danger of heat waves to seniors

RCare’s temperature sensors

Nurse Call Systems have come a long way in the past few decades. Caregiving staff are expected to do far more than simply respond to button and pull cord alerts. They need to be aware if a resident is in a dangerous environment, without the resident having to do anything. The technology needs to enable better, faster, and more predictive care.

That’s why RCare’s nurse call systems have gone above and beyond, to integrate passive environmental sensors, such as temperature and flood detecting sensors. RCare’s temperature devices will detect when temperatures are rising and start sending out alerts to designated caregiving team members. RCare allows for a quick intervention, before the situation becomes a crisis.

Passive sensors are an important part of a complete nurse call system. RCare is the provider of advanced wireless nurse call systems for senior communities across the senior care continuum. With the integration of temperature sensors, water sensors, and other environmental sensors, RCare provides care staff with the extra tools they need to keep seniors safe, even if the resident never pressed a button.

QAPI Program

Is your nurse call system helping your QAPI efforts?
It should be.

Quality Assurance, and Performance Improvement are on everyone’s minds these days. Because of the new CMS regulations, QAPI is the latest watchword in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities across the country. No doubt your senior community already has an implementation strategy in place for moving forward. But here’s something you may not have realized: Your nurse call system can play an important role in the success of your QAPI program.

RCare is the global provider of advanced, wireless nurse call systems. We’ve designed our nurse call systems to give you the tools you need for your QAPI program. Why are so many communities overlooking the value of nurse call systems for QAPI? It might be because they’re not using RCare.

Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement
QAPI.
1. Caregiver response data. When a resident pulls a cord or pushes a button on their PERS pendant, your caregiving staff responds. It’s one of many services provided in your senior community. And like all other services, it is subject to QAPI. You not only need to know that you’re meeting regulatory minimums of care, you also need hard data to identify ways to improve–even if you’re already doing a good job. RCare provides this data, including response times, call volumes, shift-by-shift comparisons, and even which services are most often provided at the point of care. This data can be key in setting baselines, in planning new ways to improve, and in measuring the effectiveness of changes.

2. Resident call data. Who is calling most frequently? How often do they call, and at what time of day or night? What services are performed? QAPI requires that you look for how things are going routinely. It also requires that you investigate your outliers. Are there needs that aren’t being met well in your facility? Are there individuals who need a change in care plan? What does your data show? With RCare, you’ll know.

3. Environmental response data. Not all calls are triggered by a request from a resident. It’s important to keep tabs on the safety and comfort of the resident’s environment as well. Are your refrigerators keeping food and meds at a safe temperature around the clock? RCare’s refrigerator sensors record data continuously, and alert the staff if the temperature slips out of range. Is a resident having a restless night? RCare’s motion sensors can let you know if there’s unexpected movement in the middle of the night. Did a tub overflow? RCare’s water sensor alerts staff, who can intervene, often before the resident even knows there’s a problem. Integrated right into RCare’s nurse call system, every alert is sent quietly and discreetly. With the “I got it” feature, caregivers can now claim calls avoiding duplication and negligence concerns.

In your job, there’s a lot expected of you. You should expect a lot from your nurse call system. RCare offers the most advanced wireless nurse call technology, for large or small facilities. RCare wants to join efforts and support you as you develop your QAPI program.

THCA/TNCAL 2017 Convention and Trade Show

RCare is headed to the Music City Center in Nashville, for this year’s THCA/TNCAL Convention and Trade Show. We’ll be exhibiting alongside trusted integrator South Western Communications in booth 603.

RCare VIP Cocktail Hour at THCA/TNCAL 2017We’re delighted to invite you to our special VIP Cocktail Hour on Monday evening, hosted by RCare, South Western Communications, and PointClickCare. If you’re at the show, be sure to stop by the Decker & Dyer Lounge in the Westin Nashville at 6pm, and join us for networking, socializing, and a delightful evening. We’d love to meet you.

At the trade show, we’ll be in the South Western Communications booth, exhibiting our full line of RCare nurse call technology. Stop by to say hello to Gary Jones, our Director of National Sales. And while you’re there, take a look at our full range of nurse call systems, for large and small communities. Check out the exciting updates to the RMetrix Reporting and Analytics package that comes with all of our nurse call systems. And check out the new Enterprise RMetrix features, designed to help you provide the most effective and efficient care across all sites in your organization.

Base RMetrix Dashboard

The Base RMetrix Dashboard

While you’re there, you’ll also want to get a look at our new GeoPendant, a sleek pushbutton pendant that allows you to customize safe zones for each resident. Discreet alerts let caregivers know when the resident moves outside the defined safe zone, and lets you pinpoint their location. Residents get the independence to move about freely and safely.

For smaller communities, check out the BCube, our full-featured nurse call system, designed and priced exclusively for small communities and smaller budgets.

See you in Nashville!

THCA/TNCAL Convention & Trade Show
August 27-30, 2017
Music City Center
South Western Communications – Booth 603
PointClickCare – Booth 630
201 5th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
on Twitter: @THCATNCAL
on Facebook: @tennesseehealthcareassociation

Expo Hours
Monday, Aug 28 10:30am-12:30pm
Monday, Aug 28 2:00pm-4:00pm
Tuesday, Aug 29 9:30am-11:30am
More info

VIP Cocktail Hour
Co-hosted by RCare, South Western Communications & PointClickCare
Monday, Aug 28 6:00pm-8:00pm
Decker & Dyer Social Lounge (hotel bar)
Westin Nashville
807 Clark Pl, Nashville
Nashville
More info

Excitement builds - RCare's new building

This year has been an exciting year for RCare. We keep building. Our product line, our market, our global footprint, it’s all growing and expanding. We’ve been introducing innovative new products that we think will really help our clients provide the best care possible. We’ve been hiring new staff.

The excitement builds.

And now we’re moving into a bigger facility. Want to see how things are going with our new space? Check out this video. Our CEO Myron Kowal takes you on a walk-through. As you can see, it has more office space, a bigger warehouse, and an expanded shipping area.

Building and expanding is what RCare is about. You may have heard about our new RMetrix reporting system and the BCube nurse call system for small campuses. And we’re not stopping there. We know it’s important that you have the best tools available, to help you provide the best care possible. That’s why we keep improving our products, adding new interoperability, and new features that we know you’ll love.

“When we began evaluating systems two major considerations were key – integration with our existing systems and forward thinking architecture allowing for future expansion. The RCare system and the fine folks at Sterling have time and again validated our decision.”
– Larry Lillo, Executive Director, Eastern Star Masonic Retirement Community

RCare has it all: from our high tech Geopendant to our variety of environmental sensors. We know it’s important to our customers that all the features of your system work together. That’s why we offer all the customizable components, and make sure they integrate flawlessly. From emergency transmitters and dome lights to caregiver tools and activity sensors. We have everything you need. Plus, interoperability with major technologies, such as PointClickCare records management, Accutech wander management, and GrandCare resident monitoring systems.

We’re expanding because business is booming! But don’t worry. We’re not sitting on our laurels. We keep thinking of other new products that will help you. Stay tuned for other exciting updates in the next few months!