Adviser LeadingAge New York Summer 2015 July 2015 | Page 15

Monitoring Data...
(continued from page 12)

As with anything new, staff training was
an initial concern. “You have to have
buy-in so the staff understands what
everything means,” Costella says. “We’ve
been very fortunate. We can show staff
what goes on week to week or month to
month, and that’s important for them to
see at the unit level.”
“Investment in electronic data collection
and monitoring can be sizable, although
this effort did not have the expenses
associated with additional staff,” Rosenblut
notes. “This is a financial investment
but at the leadership level, we decided
technology is a priority for us. We all know
about the healthcare changes going on
now. In the future, having an electronic
medical record, dashboards, and
intelligent software will be critical.”
Advice for Others
For other organizations just beginning
data collection and monitoring, Rosenblut
recommends first deciding what
indicators are most important to study
as an organization. Then, after you begin
the collection and monitoring process,
see if you need to scale back. “Once the
dashboards are set up, reevaluate if you
need all of that information,” he said.
“Presentation on the screen is also
important,” Villany said. “For example,
most systems can present data as an
algorithm or as something more visual,
like a chart. Find ways to show data that
staff members will easily understand.”
Finally, Rosenblut says that tracking
data doesn’t mean an organization has
improved care. However, it does allow
an organization to monitor care and
then make decisions on how to improve
it if necessary.
In part 3 of this article, Parker Jewish
Institute will talk about how tracking clinical
data helped the organization grow and
improve its operations for the residents and
community served every day.
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