The current state of Long-Term Care is plagued with issues created by underfunding and inconsistent care delivery across locations and geography. The goal of Long-Term Care is to provide individuals with comprehensive and compassionate care when they no longer are able to perform those activities on their own.
Long-Term Care is intended for residents who are living with chronic illness, disability, or other conditions that limit their ability to care for themselves over an extended time.
These include physical, occupational, and speech therapy interventions aimed at improving mobility, strength, and communication. Restorative care programs may involve personalized exercise routines, mobility aids, adaptive equipment, and specialized therapeutic techniques tailored to each resident’s needs. But this only happens once non-value-added activities are eliminated.
As the number of people requiring Long-Term Care grows, and the level of care required continues to increase, redesigning how we deliver this service is critical.
The Long-Term Care system faces several significant challenges which have consequential impacts on both the quality of care provided and the overall well-being of its users. These challenges include:
The high cost of Long-Term Care is a significant burden for most individuals and their families, often leading to financial strain. Public funding sources may not cover all costs, making Long-Term Care inaccessible for some, thereby increasing the burden on family, the acute and homecare systems.
The widespread issue of staffing shortages in Long-Term Care facilities has led to inadequate care, high caregiver burnout rates, and a lower quality of life for residents.
A standard of care is not properly managed across facilities resulting in some residents suffering from lack of compassionate care which can exacerbate health issues.
Geographic disparities and limited availability of services can make it difficult for individuals to access the Long-Term Care they require, particularly in rural or underserved urban areas.
Inconsistent regulation and oversight can lead to variations in care standards, affecting the safety and well-being of Long-Term Care recsidents.
Addressing these challenges doesn’t necessarily require more funding, but rather a dramatic improvement to the poor systems care providers must work within. The change must focus on efficiency and freeing up time for care providers to deliver quality accessible compassionate care for Long-Term Care Residents.
Sadly, there are a myriad of statistics demonstrating the impact of the deteriorating health of Long-Term Care residents. Our most vulnerable population experience advanced physical deterioration, falls, UTIs, pressure ulcers, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. In addition, there is a dramatic consequence from medication errors due to the number of medications residents are on. Care providers are trying their best with constantly increasing workloads, poor processes, lacking equipment, and difficulties in staffing. Through data analysis, process understanding and working with your staff we can improve the care for residents as we reduce the work burden for your staff.
Some of the main factors impacting the efficiency of Nurses and Care Providers is manual and time-consuming documentation processes, lack of standardized procedures, poor staffing models, and underutilization of technology. Our goal is to reduce these inefficiencies to allow the Providers to focus on Restorative Care and Assisted Daily Living (ADL) activities that encourage and promote residents’ quality of life. We utilize process mapping and data-driven insights that help streamline workflows, eliminate redundancies, and identify automation opportunities by designing intuitive process flows, freeing up Care Providers to improve resident care and spend less time on administration.
A nurse at a Long-Term Care home provides comprehensive nursing care which includes assessing their health status, developing care plans, administering medications, managing treatments, monitoring vital signs, and coordinating care with other healthcare professionals and support staff. Nurses face several workflow inefficiencies such as challenges in medication administration, uneven work distribution among nursing staff, ineffective communication among interdisciplinary team members, and documentation burdens. We understand the current system constraints, and employ process improvement in operational solutions and targeted interventions, such as workflow optimization, staffing strategies, communication improvement initiatives, and technology integration, to help enhance efficiency and effectiveness in nursing care within Long-Term Care home environments.
