Aged Care Insite Issue 94 | April-May 2016 | Seite 23

industry & policy

a neW approach
In many aged-care facilities, a
more effective approach to process
management is required to ensure the
delivery of quality care, reduce the time it
takes to prepare new employees and the
effort involved to fulfil audit requirements
and support the implementation of new
systems and software.
A move from procedures documents
stored in ring-binders, forgotten on a
shelf, to an online process management
solution will not only result in greater
employee engagement and higher
morale, it will directly affect the
experience and satisfaction of those in
care. A clear understanding of existing
and planned processes will also support
the selection and customisation of
essential software for scheduling and
invoicing, and for enterprise resource
planning system implementations.

tUrn ideas into everYdaY action
A crucial element of process improvement
in the aged-care sector is tapping into the
creative input of the people in the best
position to offer constructive advice. This
means encouraging those responsible for
carrying out the work to come forward
with new ideas.
Too many organisations have discovered
just how difficult it can be to turn these
good ideas into everyday practice without
a platform for managing, communicating
and providing feedback on processes.
Transferring ideas into a knowledge base,
a controlled library of valuable knowhow, creates a cycle that ensures lean
organisations have dynamic processes that
are managed as an information asset.
It is vital to empower a go-to person
and to create a go-to place for processes.
These days, teams expect to interact with

processes in the same way they use a good
website. The modern process knowledge
base is online and easily navigable. It
provides a place for interaction, invention
and ingenuity, all available in clear,
everyday language. This is particularly
important for staff whose first language
may not be English.
Online solutions allow aged-care service
providers to capture all procedures and
transform every process into an easily
accessible, web-based format stored in a
single location.
Organisations require the ability to
provide just enough detail so users can see
at a glance what needs to be done. Staff
shouldn’t be bombarded with information,
they need the tools to drill further into the
detail if needed.
Each part of a complex process can be
divided into multiple levels that are logically
addressed, as required. All forms and vital
policy documents can be linked into the
step of the process where they should be
used, saving time and assuring accuracy.
This can be of great benefit, especially for
staff dealing with a new situation, and it
becomes invaluable for induction, training
and compliance.
Even a provider facility with 1000 client
interactions a day should be able to
maintain up-to-date records and ensure
that every interaction is managed in line
with the complex legal, regulatory and
internal guidelines.
To create a lean organisation, processes
must be made accessible from a central
place where updates are universal, usable
and changeable.
The single point of access for all
procedures will not only save staff time
looking for files or manuals, but also make
following guidelines easy. With simple
access comes higher and faster adoption

rates, and a more consistent, higher
quality of care.
Teams will no longer need to re-invent
the wheel and dilute efforts away from
their core business. With a centralised,
structured knowledge asset, individuals
aren’t each developing their own approach
to solving the same problem.

learn FroM Mistakes
In a compliance-heavy organisation,
process management software provides
not only the ability to more easily meet
the required standards and guidelines, but
when an incident happens, it makes it easy
to learn from it and adjust. Because every
step is recorded, teams can identify where
the issue occurred and analyse how to
do better next time. This kind of reflective
practice is one of the real value-adds from
process management software. Delivered
from the cloud, these new collaboration
tools, which also leverage mobile
technologies, are completely changing the
way knowledge is managed and shared in
the aged care sector.
The adoption of a new approach to
process and compliance is critical to
enable the delivery of quality care, a
reduction in orientation time for new
staff, streamlined audit management, and
support for the implementation of new
systems and software required to drive
growth and efficiencies. A more effective
process management approach can also
drive greater returns on the investments
the sector is already making in people
and technology – key ingredients for their
future success. n
ivan seselj is chief executive of promapp.

agedcareinsite.com.au 21