Your frontline workers are probably overworked and understaffed. That makes it tough to provide care tailored to your residents while also being able to handle the workload they are under. Additionally, much of the technology deployed in senior care communities today addresses groups of residents, not individuals. While one-size-fits-all technology simplifies resident care, it can fall short when addressing individual needs.
Say a large group of residents is enjoying a courtyard on a hot, sunny day. While some residents will move indoors when it gets too hot, Martha, who has dementia, may not remember the steps to stay safe in the heat. Because she needs to be checked on frequently, most life safety monitoring technology will alert caregivers to check on everyone, not just Martha, which impacts other residents’ dignity.
Life safety solutions that can differentiate between individual resident needs allow staff to spend their time where it’s needed most and provide residents with more autonomy. These automated rules engines can help your staff prioritize their what needs to be done helping alleviate the burden they are under.
Automate Rules Allow For An Individualized Approach
By integrating sophisticated rules-engine software into life safety services, communities can tailor monitoring to individual residents rather than the entire population. For those individuals who need additional safety measures, a community can provide them without embarrassment or physical restraints such as locked doors. Consequently, fewer restrictions are imposed while also promoting dignity.
Using the rules engine, automated actions are triggered based on predefined conditions. This built-in framework lets products create rules based on individual resident data, or data from any integrated system (e.g., EMR, telehealth).
Rules Engines: How They Work
Rules-based life safety solutions can check for a predefined set of conditions when an event occurs (resident presses a pendant, changes location, answers a survey question in a specific way, or uses the restroom more often than usual) and then take the appropriate action.
Identifying meaningful actions from more data leads to better personalized care for residents without overwhelming frontline workers and staff. Armed with data from various sources, a rules-based solution identifies trends for caregivers, which they can then share with care teams to prevent adverse incidents and better promote whole health.
As a result of combining data previously stored in separate silos, a single RTLS system provides a holistic picture. You gain more capabilities with every new input.
Leveraging rules engine technology is more than just customizing monitoring devices; it’s how the devices and sensors adjust based on the who, what, when, and how. It eliminates unnecessary check-ins or interventions that occur when technology can only be applied to a group of residents when a rule can be customized for each resident. Staff alert fatigue and poor workflows are also reduced by the individualized approach.
Examples Of Personalized Care
Operators and caregivers can improve residents’ lives and care in many ways with sophisticated rules engines. Among them are:
- If Barbara’s bathroom trends exceed her norm by 25%, her nurse could receive a notification that she might have a UTI or other health condition
- Walter, who is a fall risk, has moved from his bed during the night and the room is dark. An alert is sent to staff and pathway lighting illuminates
- If Bobby’s EMR has a tag for fall risk and he ambulates without his walker, care staff could receive an alarm to take action before he falls
Achieve Resident Dignity Through Individualized Care
Communities can improve and better provide resident-centered care by implementing sophisticated tools that support individual needs while maintaining dignity and independence. Personalized technology allows residents to receive just the right amount of monitoring without being intrusive. Residents who feel safe tend to stay longer if they are happier.
Personalized technology provides frontline workers and caregivers with more efficient workflows and confidence allowing them to attend to individual residents needing oversight rather than entire groups. In addition, transparent reporting from sophisticated tools allows operators to share information with families, which helps them know that their loved one’s unique care needs are being met.
Ensure360℠ An Innovative Solution With Proven Results
Ensure360 combines RTLS technology, contact tracing and case management with the industry’s best nurse call systems, to collect and analyze data on the resident, community, and caregiver conditions. It includes sophisticated data-capture and analytics technology to provide staff with the insights they need to optimize their processes, reduce costs, and improve senior living and healthcare outcomes. To learn more, click HERE or call (888) 988-8210.