Busi Faulkner originally trained as a registered nurse and is now Managing Director of Home Care Nurses Australia, which employs over 200 care workers specialising in supported independent living for people with disabilities.
Busi was looking for a home care management system that would enable her to see what was happening on the field remotely and intervene where necessary. Functions such as the ability for carers to take photos (for example of wound dressings) could then be reviewed by someone more experienced.
Medicine administration and eMAR can also be managed remotely using cloud-based software. In the office, the registered nurse then updates the medication chart by verifying it with the pharmacy document and the doctor, before uploading instructions to the system on how the carer has to perform the task.
Another example of connectivity between the care provided in the service user’s home and the administrative office is with calls, incidents and complaints. When the office team receives a call they can quickly look at a carer’s notes from an attended visit by opening the electronic file which the carer will have recorded using the CareLineLive carer companion mobile app. The carers’ reports give them an accurate picture of the incident. This makes it easier to solve problems or do follow up administration.
Busi’s dislike of filing has also been solved by using CareLineLive, which has enabled Home Care Nurses Australia to go paperless. Instead of filing documents in the office, the team uses the CarelineLive management portal for uploading the documents managers need, with carers only having access to material that is relevant to the client and their care. As a result, people are now more likely to read the information available and this has helped them improve the care they provide for clients.
Busi says “CareLineLive saves us time, is very cost effective and enables constant communication between the managers, the carers and also the families so everybody knows exactly what has and hasn’t taken place. There’s no excuse that the team is not aware of anything because everything is documented.”
The team found the on-boarding process straightforward. Busi comments “I’m not an IT person. I like things that are very simple. We managed to move all our clients to CareLineLive within a short space of time and the training was easy – it is very simple to use. We made a quick video of everything. With a smartphone it is just a case of scrolling up and all the information you need is there. If we needed them, CareLineLive’s support team was readily available and very responsive.”
How does homecare software work in practice?
We asked Busi to explain how CareLineLive works for Home Care Nurses Australia. Below are her own words:
“CareLineLive has three different platforms – the management platform, the carers mobile app and the Care Circle portal.
The management platform is where we do our rostering. We used to have issues with people being rostered for very long hours and also problems arising from the distance between clients and the time it takes on public transport or by car to arrive. With CareLineLive we can see the number of hours that the employee has been rostered for and can easily work out the travel time between clients.
Using this part of the platform we run continuity reports on the clients. We use the punctuality reports in our performance reviews. The software also helps us track our carers and check that they have clocked in correctly, including using the QR code that can be physically located in the client’s home. This has addressed issues we had previously with carers inaccurately clocking in which could result in clients not getting the care they need.
With the Carer’s App I like that carers can see the date of birth, input tasks, note whether the client is aggressive and also access the key code needed to enter the house. The carers can see when medications were previously administered. This is particularly useful if the client is requesting a PRN that may already have been given by a previous carer. Real time note taking and the before and after photo function has also reduced the number of errors happening with medication administration.
With the Care Circle portal we only use the rostering side of things where the client can see the times the carers will be attending and also which carer will be coming. If an employee calls in sick and we have to change the support worker, the client would be able to see this when they log in to the portal. If the client or family member is not happy with a care worker that has been rostered they are able to bring it to our attention immediately.
We also store documents from Allied Health, the hospital and the GP on the client profile.
CareLineLive has made us more efficient. It has reduced our admin work and we also use it for documentation recording what the carer has done in the client homes.”
Homecare software for your care business
If you are interested in seeing how CareLineLive can help your home care business improve efficiency and provide better care, contact us to request a demo.
Homecare website design services
CareLineLive’s sister company MAS Design also built Home Care Nurses Australia’s website on our simple to use in-house content management system. Find out how MAS Design could help grow your homecare business!
