In a long-term care environment, service is the most important factor in sustaining business and gaining new clients. How fast staffers can respond to patient needs can be the make or break of a facility. Nowadays, with strained budgets due to higher expenses and an influx of patients, it can be almost impossible for smaller staff to effectively cater to the needs of an ever expanding patient base. Newer call button systems can be effective, but with changing technology can be costly to maintain and may require additional wiring, adding a new systems expense.
Call systems can often decrease staff efficiency, making simple tasks time consuming for both a caregiver and patient. In an all-too-common scenario, when a resident or patient needs assistance, they generally push a nurse call button located by their bedside. A nurse will visit the patient's room in response to a call button alert, oftentimes without knowing what the patient may need. If a patient needs medication, the nurse or aide would have to walk back to the nurse's station to retrieve it. If a nurse's aide responded to the call, and they are not allowed to dispense medication, the aide would need to track down a nurse in order to have the medication dispensed to the patient. This process alone is time consuming for staff and keeps patients waiting. The lack of an effective two-way communication system can put some long-term care facilities at a disadvantage. But is the only option to spend tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on new nurse call systems?
Finding ways for staff to improve efficiency and productivity in long-term care environments has become an obstacle. The expenses that go in hand with new technology can be exorbitant, not to mention the costly wiring that would be included. There is a cost-effective solution, however, that can provide long-term care facilities with faster patient response times, and improved staff productivity and efficiency: telephones.
Business telephony systems, like those offered by Panasonic, allows for integration with applications such as Direct Care Connect from Poltys Inc. which is designed to help healthcare organizations manage communications. Outfitting a long-term care facility with the right system and subsequent applications offers an effective two-way communication tool for nurses and patients.
For instance, the joint effort between Panasonic and Poltys Inc. offers a solution to outdated nurse call button systems. When a patient hits a call button on a Panasonic telephone system, a notification is sent (via an audible alert) directly to a caregiver's handset, displaying a patient's name or ID, information such as room number and even a preset priority level. A caregiver can then choose to acknowledge they received the notification, notify next in line or speak directly to the patient in the room. This eliminates the need for nurses to carry pagers and respond through a wired telephone system, in addition to blindly responding to a patient. If a patient needs medication and the call is fielded by a nurse's aide, then the aide can use a wireless handset to locate and inform a nurse who in turn retrieves the medicine and visits the patient directly.
The ability to immediately communicate with a patient and with other staffers from anywhere in the facility ensures patients receive more timely care and staffers time is being used efficiently.
With many long-term care facilities seeing strained budgets, an integrated telephony solution could be the most cost-effective way for them to see a return on investment, with better patient care and improved staff productivity. Additionally, utilizing the correct business telephone system can streamline a facility's outside communications, reducing monthly telephone service costs.
Bill Savino is the marketing manager for the Business Communications Solutions portfolio at Panasonic System Networks Company of America, a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation.