What is Governance? 

Governance is the practical application of structures, processes and policies towards meeting organisational goals. Leadership, oversight, accountability, quality improvement reporting & monitoring mechanisms are all key areas for consideration when striving to achieve good governance. 

What are the elements of clinical governance? 

Good governance structures drive the provision of high quality care and services that meet the needs of residents, their families and regulatory bodies. 

Elements of good governance include:

  • Leadership
  • Oversight
  • Accountability
  • Quality reporting
  • Quality monitoring
  • High quality care
  • High quality services
  • Setting organisational goals
Ultimate guide to Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes in Ireland | VCare

HIQA’s Role in Good Governance 

Ultimate guide to Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes in Ireland | VCare

HIQA reports in the Overview of 2016 HIQA regulation of social care and healthcare services that there are clear links between good governance of services and better outcomes for people using services.

HIQA steps for good governance include:

  • Safeguarding
  • Escalation and enforcement
  • Need for policy and implementation
  • Accountability

“Invariably, where HIQA finds services that are well managed, it also finds residents and service users who enjoy a good quality service that protects and promotes their rights.”  

Mary Dunnion,
Chief Inspector of Social Services and Director of Regulation 
HIQA

How VCare can help you complete your End of Year HIQA report

With the introduction of the End of Year report requirement on Nursing Homes in 2019 by HIQA, many organisations were forced to start a labour intensive data extraction and compilation process.

With VCare, this process is streamlined, ensuring you meet all of your reporting requirements, without having to invest large amounts of time. Contact us today for more information on how VCare can help you!  

Top five governance issues faced by the Nursing Home sector

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Lack of clear policies and procedures

Lack of clear policies and procedures available to staff detailing the processes for successful completion and documentation of tasks.

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Lack of consistent recording

Paper or a combined approach of paper/electronic systems leaves opportunity for error when it comes to accurate documentation of resident care. 

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Missed identification of risk

Some incidents considered minor or not directly involving a resident are sometimes overlooked and not recorded for these reasons. 

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Compiling of data for review and analysis

Using multiple sources or having no identified process to capture data can prove difficult to review the information and identify the most appropriate action.

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Identifying Individual Responsibilies

Difficulty in identifying the individuals responsible and who is accountable for the specific actions or tasks.

Why you should use an electronic management system to manage your Nursing Home

Nursing home facilities and their staff want to provide the best care for their residents while also complying with HIQA and GDPR standards.Traditional methods put stress on staff, increasing the likelihood of errors and reducing the quality of care.  

By using an electronic management system like VCare, you remove the stresses that cause human error. This improves the quality of the records being produced and increases the ability of staff to focus on what they do best: providing high-quality care for residents.

The use of an electronic system to manage your nursing home provides management with a central location that will provide an oversight of the organisation which will aid in ensuring the highest standard of care is being provided.  

  • Using an electronic management system ensures data is recorded in a standardised manner at a shared location and removes the risk of missing paper documents 
  • Electronic Systems allow for remote access to information and allows for a simple amalgamation of data at a group or individual facility level 
  • Saves time around the analysis of incidents & reporting,  
  • Provides instant and simple to understand trends in event resolve/occurrences 
  • Electronic Systems provide triggers with suggested actions for completion which can assist staff in ensuring they are delivering a high quality of care 
Ultimate guide to Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes in Ireland | VCare

How access to resident information via mobile devices can help improve the outcomes for your resident

Due to the dynamic nature of the Nursing Home Industry facilities are focusing their efforts on developing more efficient and productive ways to manage their facility. Easy access to accurate data is imperative in delivering the highest quality of care to your residents. We are seeing the use of electronic devices in a range of different industries and residential care is no different.  

VCare’s mobile platform allows users to access and record resident data on the go. Mobilising the record management system is key in promoting: 

  • Timely recording promotes accuracy of information 
  • Measurements / Assessments / Charting / Notes can all be recorded at the point of care, eliminating the need for paperwork and transcribing on return to the Nurse’s Station  
  • Mobile devices allow dictation to text, so Doctor’s and AHP Notes can be recorded straight into VCare, without an opportunity for error 
  • The VCare mobile app provides users with Summaries of Care and a view of Vitals, ensuring the mobile user has all the information they need to make good decisions 
  • Residents / Families can be shown Care Plans with ease, promoting involvement  
  • Mobile apps include VCare’s Evidence Based Triggers ensuring staff are alerted when Measurements / Assessments score outside of Normal Ranges  
  • Providing staff with mobile access promotes responsibility and encourages better participation in the documentation process  

Five ways VCare can help save you time in your Nursing Home

An extensive workload combined with a time poor environment results in residential care management contantly being on the lookout for more efficient ways of managing their facilities. If you’re looking for ways to improve productivitiy and increase efficicency, reduce time managing resident records, and provide the highest level of care, implementing an residential software such as VCare could be the right solution for your residential care facility. VCare can help you to save both time and money.

Here are five ways VCare can help save you time in your residential care facility:

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Automation of Care Initiation Process

  • Completion of the Resident Pre-Admission Assessment will populate the relevant fields of the resident file.
  • On admission, the required measurements, assessments and care plans are automatically scheduled ensuring staff only complete the relevant activities for each resident.
Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Mobile device functionality Saves Time

  • Mobile devices allow dictation to text, so Notes, Charts and Assessments can be added with ease. 
  • Measurements, Assessments, Charting and Notes can all be recorded at the point of care, eliminating the need for paperwork and transcribing. 
Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Linkage of Assessments to Care Plans

  • Assessment content can be linked directly to relevant Care Plans, ensure there isn’t contradicting information in VCare.
  • Upon reassessment, the Care Plan content that has changed is automatically Updated, saving time and ensuring effective Care Planning.
Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Comprehensive Reporting and Dashboards

  • The VCare Reports function is extensive and provides accurate and valuable information, with ease. 
  • Dashboards provide key users with effective management and decisions making tools to do their job effectively and enable fast, informed decisions.
Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Integrations with relevant industry leaders

  • Single Sign On reduces log in’s and ensures staff have access to all the relevant resident information, from one location. 
  • Reduces admin workload as resident information can be passed from VCare (the single source of truth) to other systems, promoting the automation of new resident records and regular updates.  

Do you want to find out more? Call us today to request a demo

4 reasons why VCare are experts in interpreting data

At VCare we pride ourselves in ensuring our platform provides effective data capture functions to save time and ensure quality of input. With a data rich system, you need to know what to do with all this data, to ensure your organisation is well informed and trending effectively.  

  • VCare has been in operation for over 25 years and we’ve learned a lot during that time 
  • Our team includes experts in Nursing Care, Quality in Healthcare, Software Development and Design, Data Analysis, System Support, Training and Education, Finance, Marketing and Administration 
  • We constantly review international best practice and update our practices accordingly 
  • We understand that Artificial Intelligence can benefit organisations and improve resident outcomes. We work closely with Gillie AI to ensure organisations have access to cutting edge technology 

The Future of Data 

Artificial Intelligence through Gillie AI

Governance and Oversight for Nursing Homes | VCare

Artificial intelligence (AI) enabled monitoring systems are pushing the boundaries of what is possible given continuous improvements of technological hardware, particularly sensors and cameras, in combination with AI software and the capabilities it provides including computer vision, machine learning, and predictive analytics.

VCare understands that Artificial Intelligence has a key role to play. Artificial Intelligence is leading the way in improving our ability to process and interpret large volumes of data. VCare has partnered with Gillie AI to provide our customers with the most cutting edge technology available. Data recorded in VCare is passed through the Gillie AI engine and reviewed. Deviations in health and wellbeing are identified and flagged to the care team. Gillie AI also predicts and diagnoses conditions before negative care events occur based on a wide spectrum of health identifiers.  

Read more about  VCare Software, or get in contact with our experts to discuss how we can help you!