Presbyterian United Methodist Homes Invests in Voice-Assisted Care to Improve Productivity and Boost Time with Residents
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AccuNurse Reduces Time to Complete Daily Assignments by 30 Minutes Per CNA Per Shift
PITTSBURGH, June 25 /- Vocollect Healthcare Systems, Inc. announces that Presbyterian United Methodist Homes, Inc. (PUMH), located in Hockessin, Delaware, has invested in voice-assisted care at all of their skilled nursing facilities in Delaware and Maryland. This investment improves productivity, enables more proactive care, and boosts time with residents.
PUMH first deployed AccuNurse in Cokesbury Village; Country House is next to come online, followed by Manor House; and then Heron Point in Chestertown, MD. The total rollout will be concluded in 2007.
By giving its care staff the capability to access information on-demand, complete paperwork simply by talking, and get help by saying 'page,' PUMH has achieved numerous gains. "Prior to AccuNurse, we had three overlapping shifts of 8.5 hours each," said Theresa Green, RN and quality improvement/staff educator for Cokesbury Village, "That half-hour overlap was used for CNAs to do their documentation using touch screen systems. But that's no longer needed. Now, they're documenting throughout their shift, and at the end of the shift, they're done. We've seen 30 minutes a day per CNA given back to our residents."
The care team at PUMH has also seen an improvement in time management. "We're committed to working smarter, not harder," said Donna Pomeroy, RN and director of health services at Cokesbury Village. "I knew AccuNurse was the bridge to more time at the bedside - getting our CNAs away from paper and touch screens to have more time with our residents and have their hands free to do more things. Multitasking is a huge productivity gain and AccuNurse enables this like no other system."
In addition to improved productivity and enhanced resident care, AccuNurse has already helped with an annual state survey with its comprehensive flowsheets. "Our survey came two months early this year and we did really well," said Pomeroy. "With touch screens, we could only do a quarter's worth of records, which was frustrating. We'd have to call IT for help in pulling reports. Now, the surveyors simply want to see the AccuNurse flowsheet."
Pomeroy explained how, when surveyors asked CNAs to provide a specific way they know when a resident needs to be toileted or transferred, they called it up with AccuNurse and are given the answers immediately. "The surveyors were really impressed that the CNAs knew all the care needs of their residents. Before, we could never do that."
In its latest survey, Cokesbury Village also saw a marked improvement in its quality indicator for toileting. "The state threshold goes up to 100% and the surveyors look at anything over 90% as a problem," said Green. "Before AccuNurse, we were up to 90% in our quality indicator for toileting and we brought this down to 38%. But, overall, if our floor is working better, that's more valuable than any dollar amount we could ever put on this system."
In addition to completing expansion of voice-assisted care across all four of its facilities, PUMH also plans to integrate AccuNurse with its nurse call system, which will eliminate the need for caregivers to wear separate pagers or other devices. Caregivers and nurses can also initiate resident room pages with simple voice requests. All can be monitored in AccuNurse for timeliness of response and increased care for residents of PUMH.
"Voice-assisted care impacts organizations like PUMH on a number of levels," said James Quasey, president of Vocollect Healthcare Systems. "With instant access to resident care plans, scheduled voice reminders for essential activities like turning and positioning; Silent Paging; and notification of care plan changes as they happen, AccuNurse helps staff avoid unfortunate mistakes and costly errors. Only voice-assisted care impacts organizations across so many levels from operating costs and efficiencies to new levels of resident-centered care and competitive advantage."
About Vocollect Healthcare Systems
Vocollect Healthcare Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vocollect, Inc. brings the power of voice to caregivers in long-term care facilities. Using simple spoken dialog, staff hear care plan details and document activities as they are completed, simply by talking. The result is better documentation, better communication, and better care.
Source: Vocollect Healthcare Systems, Inc.
CONTACT: Jennifer Clement of Vocollect Healthcare Systems,
+1-412-825-5336, jclement@healthcare.vocollect.com
