Connected care is something we hear talked about a lot. But what does it really mean – and how might it shape what goes on in the care home of the not-so-distant future?
What will never change is the essential function of a care home – to provide a safe and effective environment where people can receive the care and support they need. But it’s much more than that. Care homes are also dedicated to helping people enjoy the most fulfilling life possible, which is where connected care comes in.
KareInn already does a great job of supporting care homes to manage safe and effective care. The vision we’re working towards is one where all the important aspects of resident care and the broader resident experience are integrated to make life easy for residents, families, carers and care home staff.
Connected Care Needs Connected Systems
Care delivery, resident wellbeing and the overall resident experience are interconnected. It makes sense that systems supporting these aspects of effective care should be integrated as fully as possible, so that everything’s in one place. So here are a few ways that we envisage KareInn’s care management tools being enhanced to support connected care.
Technology can help residents stay connected to life outside the care home, whether that’s contact with family and friends or accessing medical or support services. Being able to do this from a smartphone or tablet while also having the opportunity to book activities and plan your day makes life easy. It helps safeguard against isolation and enriches your life.
Activities And Wellbeing
Activity, mental and physical – helps maintain better overall health. A single smartphone interface can offer access to quizzes, wellbeing-themed games and activities, live streamed events, radio and podcasts from around the globe, as well as providing activity suggestions for care home staff.
These options will be accessed through one interface and integrated with care management tools to provide a complete picture of the health and wellbeing of residents.
Digital Reception
Visitors are an important part of care home life, whether family members, activity leaders, therapists or medical professionals. Making the reception digital makes it easier to track visitors, link individual visits to care records and collect feedback that can be used for CQC data collection.
The digital tools needed to enhance the overall care experience are already available. Integration will make them easy to deploy and manage across a care home group so that they improve both efficiency and effectiveness.
Fully connected care is something we’re actively working on with our partners. A modern digital care management system is the ideal foundation on which to build fully connected care as it already connects homes across an entire group into a unified system. To see how this works, book a KareInn demo.
