Let’s Talk: Assisted Living Industry

By Carli Stensrud

Many of us who work at RTasks have worked in Assisted Living settings. Our software works the way it does because it is developed by people who understand what it is like for those on the front lines of care. We are sensitive to real-life day to day challenges in this business.

We understand that, because direct care and the training of new caregivers HAS to take precedence over paperwork, nurses are sometimes needed in direct care roles.  When that happens, it can make it difficult without heroic efforts to get their computer work/paperwork completed in a timely manner.

In speaking with RTasks clients, this is substantiated by a cycle that is happening in many assisted living facilities all over the country.

The cycle:

• The facility needs to hire staff to fill direct care shifts.
• The facility finally hires a caregiver or a nurse.
• The new staff are needed ASAP and may start their role without the ideal amount of training.
• They have to start caring for residents or filling in shifts immediately.
• Nurses and caregivers often have to work long hours to ensure direct care is being provided.
• Sometimes this results in some required documentation being left incomplete.

The result: Staffing challenges can really impact compliance.

How is this problem being addressed?

RTasks can help. Our team is committed to supporting you when it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to complete your tasks. It is our aim to develop systems that help your staff complete the documentation of daily tasks with minimal disruption to actual caregiving.

In addition to the tools that already exist in RTasks, we are working on RTasks Care Fundamentals LMS that will make onboarding new staff simpler and more efficient. Imagine being able to assign your staff the required education courses right in RTasks.

Watch for more information on the newest educational tool to hit the market. Meanwhile, here’s a taste of what is coming: Activities of Daily Living: Dressing.

RTasks can’t resolve all of your staffing challenges or give you more hours in your day, but our software can HELP make things better and easier!

New Diagnosis Configuration

Coming in June, you will have the ability to type in a key word(s) or ICD-10 code and select a diagnosis from a list of diagnoses. This new diagnosis list will be sourced from the NLM (National Library of Medicine) website. This will improve the accuracy of your client record and any paperwork that needs to be sent to medical professionals. Note: You will no longer be able to type in your own diagnosis or use an existing diagnosis. Watch for future communication about this updated feature.

Pharmacy Connect Update

Many of you are successfully using our Pharmacy Connect feature to ensure the accuracy of your resident prescriptions. When it comes to medications, you are expected to maintain a level of excellence that can only be achieved using software that is built with these standards in mind.

As you know, RTasks is just such software!  We continue to fine tune the systems you are using according to your specific needs. It is never a matter of what WE think is important; it’s what YOU deem important. In fact, we have a few updates coming your way this summer that will make your life easier!

Meanwhile, we have recently added a new feature to Pharmacy Connect that we hope you’ll really like!  When importing a medication as a new med in Pharmacy Connect, the user can toggle the “Controlled”, “Antibiotic” and “Psychotropic” checkboxes without requiring any special roles like 411 if the medication in the global medications screen has not been used previously for this resident or any other residents.

What does this mean? RTasks locks down the ability to identify medication categories by limiting the users who can actually do this (only those with the 411 role). With this new update, staff without the 411 role (the Manager or Supervisor role is still needed) will be able to easily categorize these special medication types from the Pharmacy Connect import screen without the assistance of a 411 user. This was a client request and we believe it will help make your medication review more efficient without sacrificing security.

If you have any questions about this, or if you need assistance with identifying your 411 users, please contact our support team: support@residexsoftware.com.

This Works Better!

The Review Vitals Out of Range screen is used by nurses to stay on top of inconsistencies in resident vital sign readings. This is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to tracking and recording vitals data.

1. Vital sign services are scheduled in the resident service plan with specific parameters identified.
2. Caregivers record the information as a part of their assigned tasks and optionally enter notes.
3. Nurses review the vitals that are considered out of range (based on parameters) in order to follow up on any issues that may be present.

RTasks makes this easy by laying out the data in an easy-to-read format. PLUS, a recent update on this screen now displays the note entered by the aide at the time of charting.

Our support and development teams are interested in making the data in RTasks accessible and readable for our nursing partners.

Direct your questions to our support staff by emailing: support@residexsoftware.com.

Pill Count Reset

Q: How is a controlled medication count reset?

A: The count is reset under the following scenarios:

Resident Medications Screen:

• You press the reschedule button and enter new times and providers.
• You press the edit button and change the strength or instructions.

Pharmacy Connect Screen:

• You update an existing med and specify new times or there is a mismatch in the frequency. (Pharmacy sends a scheduled med and you update a PRN or pharmacy sends a PRN med and you choose to update a scheduled med.)

More Info:  Follow this link for details.