Tips To Making Sure You Find the Right Respite Care For Your Loved

Like everybody else, caregivers too need a break. Respite care facilities play a very important role in providing caregivers a short-term break from the demands of caregiving a family member. Respite care can take the load off your shoulders while you can go for a vacation, meet your professional or personal commitments or just be yourself for a while. Respite care can be arranged for a few hours, a few days or weeks depending on how long the primary caregiver is gone for. There are several forms of respite care services available. Choosing what suits your family and the needs of the person requiring care can be a bit difficult. Some respite care facilities provide overnight care while some can take care of your loved one for a few days. Some care homes may align with your needs more than others.

Here are a few tips on finding respite care that suits your needs:

  • Ask friends and family friends: Friends and family members can pitch in to take care of your loved one if you want to run an errand or go on a vacation for a few days. Having a known person around in the known atmosphere of the home usually makes it easier for your loved one. Moreover, seeking care at home does not require you to get your loved one to adjust to a new setting.
  • Decide what care you need: As there are various kinds of respite care facilities available you have to decide whether you want in-home services provided by a volunteer or paid help or you want your loved one to get care at an adult day centre or respite care home.
  • In-home services: In-home services can last for a few hours or overnight and it may be directly arranged through an agency. This is quite a popular choice as your loved one doesn’t have to leave the comforts of the home and yet they continue to receive care.
  • Adult day care centres: If you think your loved one will be bored in your absence or you just want a change of scenery for your loved one, adult day care centres are good options. Day care centres are non-residential facilities which provide a planned program of activities for older adults in a professional care setting. There are several activities planned throughout that keeps older adults busy and entertained while they continue to receive health services.
  • Residential programmes: If you are planning to go away for days or weeks, then a residential programme can offer temporary care. These centres are usually equipped to deal with different types of medical emergencies and other exigencies.
  • Combine your choices: You don’t have to stick to one form of respite care. You can take advantage of all forms of respite care services depending upon your changing needs. If you will be gone for a few hours, you can hire professional respite care givers.  And, if you will be gone for weeks, you can opt for a respite care home which can temporarily take care of your loved one in a professional setting.

Make sure the respite care home you choose has an automated medication administration

Your loved one will be staying in a respite care home for a short term and it would be challenging for caregivers to have a thorough understanding of the patients’ medical condition and medicines. Make sure the respite care home you choose for your loved uses eMAR, a software app, that will acquaint the caregivers at care home with the patients’ medical records without the hassle of going through the paperwork.

 

 

Ways to help seniors combat loneliness in care homes

Human beings are social creatures and we, by nature, long for connection with others. However, life can be quite lonely for those who are in long-term care homes. With no professional commitments to keep them busy, life at care homes can be quite lonely for the seniors. However, as a professional caregiver, you can make this phase a pleasant experience for them.

Here are a few steps care homes can take to help seniors combat loneliness:

1. Providing person-centred care: Moving into a care home is a major change in life and for many of the elderly leaving their friends and family behind can be an unpleasant transition. In such a scenario, the care home staff must make extra efforts to make a resident’s stay pleasant. By helping them understand different aspects of daily life in care homes, care home staff can make the elderly feel comfortable and accept the transition positively. Also, getting to know what the individual likes and dislikes can help in providing him or her proper care.

Care home staff wish to give personal attention to each resident, but the amount of workload they have makes it impossible. Along with providing personal care to the residents, they have to take care of the medication administration process which involves not just giving medicines to the residents but doing all the paperwork related to it. To take the load off their shoulder, care homes should switch to eMAR, an electronic medication administration record software. It eliminates paper-based hassles and streamlines medication administration. It will allow care home staff to work efficiently, save time, and prioritise person-centred care. To know how eMAR can help your care home, book a demo today.

2. Promote a feeling of community: Care home staff can help the residents overcome the feeling of isolation by arranging group activities and giving them a sense of community. Communal meals are a great way to encourage socialisation during meal times. Within the care home, you can set up groups and clubs as per the interests of the residents. Group activities like gardening, yoga, singing, painting can go a long way towards fostering a sense of belongingness and improving the overall quality of life.

3. Arrange outdoor activities: Being cooped in one place can be quite monotonous. A change of scenery is beneficial for everyone. As a care home staff, you can arrange a day trip. You can take the residents to a museum, a local park or a movie theatre. This will not only bring back good memories but also help them build new ones. Just make sure you arrange staff for the residents who need extra personal assistance.

4. Plan family visits: Seeing family and friends on a regular basis can lift the mood of the residents. Plan lunch, dinner and outings during family visits. If family visits are difficult to arrange, you can encourage the residents to learn how to operate a mobile phone and chat with their family members. A video call is a great way to see how their family members are doing.

eMAR has helped several care homes in the UK to improve their operational efficiency. The best thing is that electronic medication administration record templates resemble paper-based MAR sheets, making it easier for care home staff to adapt easily.

 

Why Shifting From Mar Sheets To E-MAR Is A Good Decision?

Are you a care home manager who wants to simplify the complex process of medication administration followed in your care home? Do you find it difficult to set accountability when medical errors take place in the care home you work at? If you are facing all these problems, then you are on the right page. There were several care managers like you in the UK who faced similar issues. However, they simplified the process of medication management by switching to eMAR, an electronic MAR sheet medication record system. To know how you can benefit from eMAR, keep on reading.

Here are a few benefits that care homes have reaped by switching to eMAR

  1. No paperwork: In today’s digital age, it makes little sense to let your care home staff members manually fill the paper-based MAR sheets. When care homes use conventional paper-based MAR sheets, the risk of medication errors is high. Overwriting, illegible handwriting, and wrong abbreviation, etc, can lead to medical errors that can compromise patient safety. By eliminating the paperwork, eMAR will reduce the stress of care staff.
  2. Easy to learn and use: The electronic MAR sheets resemble the paper-based MAR, making the software quick to learn and easy to use. You can also opt for online training courses for your staff. The software can be easily shared with medical professionals internally and externally. You can also share it with pharmacies for inventory-related issues. It has a friendly interface with multiple users accessing the records at the same time. Not just that, the medication administration record template can even be designed and modified as per type and operations of your care home.
  1. Better accountability: While paper-based MAR sheets made it nearly impossible to track accurately which staff member made the changes. It is one person’s word against another. This is no longer the case with eMAR. It records all the changes and along with the names of the person who has made the changes. This makes it easy to set accountability among staff members.
  2. Real-time monitoring: With paper-based MAR you have to be physically present to check the records. However, eMAR medication system allows real-time recording, documenting and viewing without being even present at the care home. Moreover, eMAR sends alerts to care staff. If the medicine is not administered even after the reminders, an alert goes to the care home manager.
  3. Generate audit reports instantly: Preparing audit reports using paper-based MAR sheets is time-consuming and prone to human errors. However, with eMAR you can prepare extensive daily, weekly, monthly or even annual reports without having to manually go through each and every paper.

Learn how eMAR can improve efficiency at your care home

Just like many other care home managers, you too can take help of eMAR to reduce medication errors and improve operational efficiency at your care home. This highly customisable software is a valuable tool that will help you increase efficiency in your facility. By switching to eMAR you will be adhering to the highest standards of medication administration procedures. Book a demo today.

How To Manage Medicines In Care Homes? Things To Know

If you are a care home manager, the thing you definitely don’t want is a medication error to compromise the health and safety of the residents and, eventually tarnish the reputation of the care home. Unfortunately, medication errors, despite being a serious problem, is quite common in health facilities across the UK. By having a system in place for checking these errors, you can streamline the medication administration process and avoid preventable medical mistakes. With caregivers reporting to you overwhelmed with a huge amount of responsibilities, you must be wondering where to begin. As we understand professional caregiving is no easy task, we have come with a few tips to help you with managing the medication process in your care home.

Here are a few things you can do to set medication administration in order:

  1. Have a process in place: Having a standard operating procedure in place can ensure that medicines are administered safely and effectively. The caregivers should be aware of the 6 Rs: right resident, right route, right medicine, right time, right dose, and resident’s right to refuse. Besides checking these 6 Rs before administering medicines, caregivers should also know what to do in different situations. For instance, if a resident is having a meal or is sleeping, the caregiver should come again. If the resident has complained about any side effects, the caregivers should formally record the matter.
  1. No disruption during the medicine round: Medication administration is just one of the many responsibilities that caregivers take care of. However, during the medicine round the caregiver should not be disturbed. Disruptions in the medicine round can let errors creep in. Give caregivers enough training and time to check the medicines correctly. Irregular staff breaks or shift changes can result in miscommunication, leading to errors.
  2. Record when medicines are given: Make a record of all the medicines that are being administered. It should be done in a way that if the shift changes, the other staff member is aware which medicine has been administered or which has been missed (if the resident was sleeping or had gone out). If a particular medicine has been stopped the caregiver must make a note of the reasons why.
  1. Be in touch with the pharmacy for inventory update: You don’t want your staff members to find out that certain medicines are out of stock during the medicine round. It is for the best that your care home has a process to make sure that the pharmacy is alerted before a particular medicine goes out of stock.

Switch to electronic MAR sheets today and reduce medication errors at your care homes

Electronic MAR is a software that will help you ensure medication is administered reliably at your care home. Here are a few things to know about electronic MAR sheets

  • Alerts: The app will send alerts when the medicines are due. The alert will have all the details: resident’s name, medicine name, right route, right dose and the right time.
  • Audit: As a care home manager you can access the monthly reports with the click of the buttons. You can audit whenever and wherever you want.
  • Notes: It records all caregivers’ notes along with their names. As a care home manager, you will be able to fix accountability. As supervisors also receive alerts, you will get to know if a dose is missed on a real-time basis.
  • Detailed reports: You don’t have to go through piles of paper to prepare monthly reports. You can generate detailed reports in seconds from medication data spanning days, weeks, months or even years.

Book a demo today and learn how eMAR can help your care home. Remember the app can be customised as per your care home’s specific needs.

Features of eMAR and How it Benefits Care Homes

Medication errors are one of the most common preventable errors that are reported in hospitals, care homes, and health facilities. Several care homes and health facilities continue to use paper-based medical records, forcing the staff to rummage through papers for determining which medication is due for the patients.  Not only is that time-consuming, but the legibility of prescription can also lead to omission or overdose of medicines. However, this is not the case with care homes and health facilities that use electronic medication systems. eMAR is a software that helps to streamline medication processes and, thus, significantly improve patient safety. eMAR comes with a number of features that cover different aspects of medication administration –

Here are the key features of eMAR and how they benefit care homes:

  1. Alerts: This is one of the most important features of eMAR. The alert features ensure that medicine dosage is not missed. It sends an alert to care, workers when the medicine is due. The alert has all the details: the name of the patient, the name and dosage of the medicine and how it should be administered. This way even a new care worker would know which medicines are to be given to which patients and at what time. Reminders are sent to the care staff before the medication is due. Not just that it can also send email reminders to team supervisors in case a dosage is missed.
  2. Audits: Medication management is a complex task. It doesn’t just end with giving the right medicine to the right patient. Medication management involves taking care of the inventory and sending the pharmacy request for the supply. Auditing MAR Sheets for medication counting and other gaps can be time-consuming and prone to human errors. Care workers can prepare extensive month-end reporting with ease using eMAR without having to manually go through each and every paper. They can also integrate the pharmacy with the software and send restocking requests on a real-time basis.
  1. Notes: With eMAR in place, there is no more finger-pointing among the care workers. eMAR records all notes made by each staff member. Paper MAR sheets leave a lot of room for doubt because of overwriting or a person not signing the sheet. However, this is not the case with eMAR. The app records all medication notes and provides the proof at the time of review. This promotes a culture of accountability and responsibility in the care homes.
  2. Reporting: With paper-based MAR sheets, making monthly reports is one big task. The care home staff has to manually go through each and every paper to prepare a report. With eMAR, they can prepare monthly reports in a jiffy. Not just monthly reports, they can also make detailed reports spanning days, weeks, months or even years.

Switch to eMAR for better operational efficiency and better patient safety

eMAR is a valuable tool that can help your care home reduce medication errors and improve operational efficiency.  The best part is that eMAR is highly customizable. Switch to eMAR to adhere to the highest standards of medication administration procedures. Book a demo to see how eMAR can increase efficiency in your facility.

Personal Care Home Checklist: Factors to Look for

Deciding to send a loved one to a care home can be an emotionally difficult call to make. However, knowing that your loved one is taken care of in a safe and caring atmosphere can give you great relief. Therefore, the search for a care home requires a good amount of research as there are many care homes that vary in size, specialties, dining, and other facilities.

Before you get confused as to where to begin, we’ve rounded a few crucial factors that you should consider when searching for a care home for your loved one:

  1. Location: You may prefer a location that is near your home or a location that has a major hospital closeby. Also, make sure that the care home is accessible by public transportation and has ample parking space for visitors.
  2. Hygiene: When it comes to judging a place’s hygiene, a clean appearance is not enough. Make sure that the care workers are ensuring that standards of hygiene are maintained as it is vital for the health and well-being of your loved one. Check that not just the common areas but also the kitchen and personal space allocated to your loved ones are clean. Also, check that care workers are well‐groomed as they are the ones who will be taking care of your loved one.
  3. Streamlined staffing: A care home is warm and hospitable mainly because of the staff. Make sure that the relationship between the staff and the residents appears to be warm, polite and respectful. Make sure that the staff respects the residents’ personal space and independence.

Also, check how the care home you plan to select administers medication to the residents. Many care homes in the UK these days are using electronic medication administration record systems. eMAR can be installed on tablets and Android smartphones and it ensures that the right medicines are administered to the right patients at the right time via the right route.

  1. Dining facility: Food plays an important role in the quality of life for those living in care homes. Check whether the residents have a say in the menu. Also, ask whether special diets are provided to those with certain medical conditions.
  2. Activities: Check the activity calendar. Well, thought out activities such as karaoke, gardening, day tours, etc contribute to the resident’s quality of life. Make sure that the specific activities that your family member loves are part of the activity calendar and if not, then place a request. All these activities are important for encouraging socialization and a feeling of belongingness.

What is respite care?

Taking care of a sick, ageing or disabled family member can take a toll on the emotional and physical health of the primary caregiver. If you are a primary caregiver, then respite care can take the load off your shoulders and give you much-needed break. But what exactly is respite care? Respite care provides short-term relief to the primary caregiver. It can be arranged for a few hours, a few days or weeks. Professional caregivers provide temporary relief to the primary caregiver who is usually a family member. Whether the primary caregiver has professional commitments or just taking a break, respite care can help ease their burden. Respite care can be arranged at home or a healthcare facility or an assisted living home.

Learn more about respite care here:

  • When is respite care needed?

Respite care is needed to ensure that the primary caregiver can take a break and take care of personal or professional commitments or just relax and spend some time with friends and family. As respite care is a short-term arrangement, one can seek it to go for running errands or going on vacation. The aim of respite care is to give the primary caregiver a temporary relief while the primary caregiver is assured that his or her loved one is receiving care in a safe environment.

  • How does it benefit the primary caregiver?

Caregiving is a stressful responsibility and no one is equipped to shoulder the responsibility all alone. Just like the loved ones they care, primary caregivers also need care. To maintain their emotional and physical wellbeing, they need a break from their caregiving duties. Respite care homes care for the patients in a caring and professional environment, meanwhile, the primary caregiver can focus on self and come back with renewed energy.

  • How can respite care benefit the patient?

Respite care homes give the patients an opportunity to interact with those who are having similar experiences. They get to meet new people in a safe and supportive environment. Some care homes also organize events, activities and outings and the patients get to participate in them.

  • What is included in respite care?

Most respite care homes provide meals, medication management, housekeeping, personal hygiene care, and laundry service, among other services. The services also depend on whether you take the service at home or daycare center or residential care home. Professional caregivers are trained to help the patient eat meals, take medications on schedule, dress and bathe. Professional caregivers are trained to take care of the special needs of patients with dementia, Alzheimer’s and other conditions.

  • How does eMAR help respite care homes?

As patients come to respite care for a short stay, this gives care workers less time to get a thorough understanding of the medical needs of the patients. eMAR helps the care homes to keep a track of the patient’s medical records without any hassles. Using electronic MAR sheets, the care workers can get acquainted with the medication administration process of new patients without any delay. eMAR sends alerts to care, workers, when the medicines are due, leading to an error-free medicine administration. To know how eMAR can help your care home streamline medication administration, book a demo today.

How to Support Older People in Care Homes at Night?

Caregiving itself is tough. Nighttime caregiving can be tougher. During the night hours, older people often face difficulty sleeping. Thus, caregiving at night can be as busy as it is during the day time. It is, therefore, essential that overnight care is tailored to make the old people feel safe, secure, and reassured. We’ve rounded up a few tips that can help you ensure that the residents at care homes receive the care they need at night:

1) Understand the patients’ night time needs: Often people move to care homes as their nighttime needs can no longer be addressed at home. If a patient has a medical condition like dementia or Alzheimer’s, they may become disoriented at night. They may get up at night and want to go for a walk. Some patients with chronic disease may have an overactive bladder and may assist in using the toilet. Knowing a patient’s individual medical needs can help the care homes tailor the night time care accordingly.

2) Effective handover between nighttime and daytime caregivers: There should be an effective system in place so that the day staff and night staff are able to communicate with each other effectively. When vital information is routinely shared and discussed, care workers can care for the patients better. For instance, if a patient has missed his or her medications in the day, then the night staff should be kept in the loop.

Avoid communication-related medication errors with eMAR

eMAR streamlines communication between care workers who work in different shifts. It helps to improve the workflow as it makes handover easy. With electronic medication administration records, the staff would get to know if a patient has not been administered a particular medicine. The medication records are available electronically, keeping all the staff members informed that too on a real-time basis. If you are using MAR sheets for medication, book an eMAR demo today to know how you can streamline medication administration at your care homes

3) Reduce the risk of injury: Darkness can further increase the risk of patients falling and injuring themselves. Care homes must consider that patients may suddenly get up in the middle of the night with the feeling of confusion. Placing motion sensor lights in their rooms and passageway can help caregivers reach out to the patients on time. Besides, ensuring adequate lighting, efforts should be made to keep the passageways clear. There should be no rugs or mats over which the patients can trip.

4) Keep the patient active in the day: Planning daily activities like walks, exercises and other activities in the day can help regulate the body clock of the patients. Also, after taking part in engaging activities in the day, the patients may have a good night’s sleep. Also, keep the caffeine intake in check and ensure their nap time is not closer to the night time.

We hope you find the above tips useful in managing the patients’ nighttime routine!

Mental wellbeing of older people in care homes

Mental wellbeing of people living in care homes is as important as physical wellbeing. Ill health, bereavement, loneliness, losing independence, losing social contact after moving into a care home or any other change in situation can make older people vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and affect their mental health adversely. Instead of ignoring it thinking it is a normal part of ageing, steps should be taken to enhance the mental wellbeing of older people.

If you are running a care home, here are a few ways to promote mental well being among the older people:

  1. Help them maintain a healthy lifestyle: The health benefits of exercising regularly are numerous. Regular physical activity positively affects general health, mobility, and independence. It enhances mood and improves self-esteem. Any form of physical activity, like walking, dancing, yoga, is good for older people. Caregivers can ensure that people with limited mobility have assistance.
  2. Let them be meaningfully active: There is nothing like having a purpose of getting up in the morning. Volunteering not only helps older people stay active and engaged, but it also gives them a sense of accomplishment that comes from contributing to society. From cooking food for the homeless to tutoring underprivileged children, there are a lot of ways you can help the older people to lead a meaningful life.
  3. Promote social interaction: Being away from family and friends can be lonely and depressing. Isolation can adversely affect mental wellness. One of the best ways to encourage older people is to organize group activities like singing, gardening and knitting groups. These group activities provide an opportunity for social interaction.
  1. Encourage reading and writing: Reading and writing can help older people keep their brains active. Both reading and writing can spark imagination and help to kill monotony. Keeping a journal of daily activities is also beneficial. Caregivers can encourage the residents to write an email or a letter to friends and family. It doesn’t need to be lengthy. Short and crisp emails can help them feel wanted and connected with the outside world.

By focusing on the needs of each person, care home staff can ensure the mental as well as physical well being of the residents. However, from helping some residents to get dressed to ensuring that medicines are administered correctly, the life of a professional caregiver can be hectic. To give caregivers some relief and to ensure error-free medicine administration, switch to eMAR, electronic medication administration record. It’s a smart alternative to paper-based MAR sheets which are time-consuming and prone to errors. It sends alerts to caregivers when the medicines are due and quickens the medicine rounds. Visit https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/book-a-demo/ to book a demo today.

Ways to Increase Staff Productivity in Your Care Home

Just like any other industry, staff productivity is a concern in the care home sector. Professional caregivers are often overwhelmed by the sheer responsibility that they have to shoulder while the residents often feel that they need personal attention. However, things are not all that gloomy. By doing a few things differently care home staff can be more efficient and productive.

Here are a few ways to increase staff productivity and get the most out of the workday:

1. Provide regular training: Making a regular investment in your staff’s training can help to improve the level and quality of care provided to the residents. Regular training streamlines work by reducing the time that is often wasted in asking questions or figuring it out on their own. The right amount of training ensures that certain repetitive tasks are done without any errors and there is a set standard operating procedure that will be followed to a tee unless there is an aberration.

 2. Don’t overwork them: Professional caregiving can take a toll on the mental, emotional and physical health of care home staff. The shifts are long and they work in an industry that is always understaffed. Therefore, conscious efforts should be made not to overwork the care staff. An exhausted team of caregivers doesn’t augur well for the overall well-being of the residents. A good number of leaves in between can do wonders to the staff’s morale and productivity.

3. Use technology: Technology is impacting and enhancing the way care homes are run and managed. Both the staff and the residents can avail the benefits of new technology like electronic medical records software that allows care home staff to streamline the daily duty of administering medicines. With electronic medical records software, they are sure that they have the right information in hand. They spend less time sorting out papers.

 Improve staff efficiency at your care home with eMAR

eMAR is a handheld electronic medical records software that can help care home staff give the right medicines in the right dosage at the right time. The digital medication administration record template works on Android smartphones as well as tablets. As the digital template is the same as the paper-based, there is not much staff training required. eMAR helps improve staff efficiency by eliminating the task of the paper-based MAR sheets. It ensures efficient handover when the shift changes as eMAR doesn’t rely on human memory. To know how eMAR can help your care home staff become more efficient, visit https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.

4. Create a positive work environment: Professional caregiving is a tough job and it’s easy for care home staff to feel overwhelmed. High levels of stress can affect the staff’s ability to maintain efficiency. However, when staff are recognized and rewarded for their hard work, they feel positive. This further motivates them to do better.

Useful Aids For People Living With Dementia

Dementia is an incurable condition that affects the patient’s ability to remember or to carry out daily normal tasks. Over some time, dementia tends to get worse. Many people move into care homes as their condition worsens. However, this doesn’t mean that people with dementia cannot lead an active and fulfilling life at care homes. If you are running a care home, then you can use several handy aids to help those with dementia or other long-term conditions to live safely and as independently as possible.

Here are a few aids that can help you improve the care provided for people living with dementia at your care home:

  1. Clocks: A dementia-friendly clock that clearly shows the time of day as the morning, afternoon, evening or night can help the residents and their caregivers stick to a routine. You can also set alarms to remind the patients to go for a walk or eat their meal.
  2. Picture phones: Staying connected with family and friends is important, especially for those who have dementia. With the early onset of dementia, the patients tend to forget phone numbers and may need assistance calling people. However, with a picture phone, the user only has to push the person’s picture to call them. There are dial-less and memory picture phones. A dial-less phone allows the resident only to receive calls from the loved ones. Memory picture phones come with the feature of only calling numbers that have been fed into it so that the resident doesn’t end up calling random numbers.
  3. Noticeboard: Putting up a noticeboard or a big calendar can be useful to remember things. A noticeboard with a daily plan written on it can help caregivers follow a set routine which can be a tad difficult with patients with dementia. As a caregiver, you list the activities like bathing, brushing, etc, on board. Wipe clean the board as when the activities are done.
  4. Colorful dinnerware: People with advanced dementia find it difficult to eat from dinnerware that has intricate designs. They often end up spilling food and out of frustration, they end up eating less or skipping meals. However, using high-contrast tableware can help people to distinguish plates and glasses from other tableware. This ensures that they eat and drink properly.

Caring for patients with dementia can sometimes be challenging. One of the areas where caregivers often struggle while dealing with patients with dementia is medication. It is not practical for patients with dementia to remember to take medicines. From dealing with erratic behavior to sometimes answering the same question time and again, working in a stressful situation can result in lapses like medication errors. Using eMAR, electronic medication administration records, to administer medicines at your care home can offer much-needed peace of mind to caregivers. eMAR can help you administer the right medicine at the right time to the right patients. If you are running a care home in the UK that still uses paper-based MAR sheets, then visit https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/care-homes/dementia-care/ to know how eMAR can help care for people with dementia in a better way.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Improving the Performance of Your Care Home

A good care home is the one where the residents’ physical needs like assistance with toileting, washing and eating are taken care of and at the same time, their emotional needs are valued. If you are running a care home and you wish to improve its performance, then you are on the right page. Most of the people who come to care homes usually stay there for the rest of their lives. Thus, it is extremely important for you to give them quality care.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when improving the performance of your care home:

1. Are you listening to the residents? To constantly improve a care home, you have to listen very closely to the feedback from the residents. The feedback of the residents for whom you are caring for gives vital input on how your services can be improved. It gives us ideas about ways to improve. All channels of communication should be open to encourage the residents to air their opinions.

2. Do you need better management of the medication process? One of the most important aspects of good practice in a care home is that the residents are getting the right medicines and at the right time. Medicine administration is an important indicator of the quality of care. If you wish to improve the medication process, then switch to electronic MAR charts of eMAR (electronic medication administration record).

 Switch to eMAR and improve the quality of care at your care home

eMAR eliminates all the paper-based hassles and sends alerts to care home staff and their supervisors when the drugs are due. This way, it becomes possible for care managers to build compliance. Book an eMAR demo https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/book-a-demo/ to see how you can streamline medication administration at your care home.

3. Do the residents have a say in decisions regarding their care? A good care home is the one where the residents are heard. You should train the caregivers to seek the consent of the residents when they are cared for. Shared decision-making makes the caregivers work a tad easier and gives the residents a sense of autonomy. The residents are able to voice their opinions and make informed choices.