The document discusses the benefits of electronic medication management (EMM) systems in care homes. It notes that medication errors occur in 8.4% of administration events in care homes. EMM systems can reduce errors by enforcing the six rights of administration and providing alerts. EMM also increases efficiency by eliminating paperwork, enhances governance through data analytics, and streamlines communication between care homes and pharmacies. Overall, EMM improves safety, reduces pressure on staff, and leads to better resident outcomes and experiences.

2. Errors occur on 8.4% of medication administration events
This would mean:
1 x resident administered medication 3 x a day = 84%
chance of receiving a medication administrator error every
week and a 99.9% chance every month

4. In Managing and Administering Medication in Care
Homes for Older People
It is suggested care home residents are prescribed an
average of 7-8medications per person per day
Residents in care homes are commonly prescribed
multiple medications at the same
time, given their complex health conditions

6. Now consider that the primary tools
being used by the majority of care
home providers to manage their
residents’ medications still revolve
around paper-based systems with
significant limitations

7. It becomes very challenging to provide the
highest levels of safe and quality
care, while using a manual approach to
medication management

8. The medication management process within
a care homes is extremely complex
Providers are responsible for
receiving, administering and documenting
large volumes of medications on a daily basis
This process draws on information from
a range of sources and requires
involvement from numerous internal and
external healthcare professionals

9.  Strengthening the
partnerships between the
doctors, pharmacies and
care homes facilities
 Streamlining the workflows that support
medication administration in care homes

10. Enter:
Electronic
Medication
Management

11. …improve medication
management processes

13. That’s not all!

14. Reduce Compliance Risk
1

15. Not only do these
distractions negatively
impact staff
productivity, they can also
lead to serious
compliance risks
including signature
omissions
Typically, the process of
administering medications
to residents takes place in
the midst of a
lengthy, demanding and
disrupted medication round

16.  Configurations prevent staff from proceeding with
medication administration until a signature has been
recorded
 Intuitive alerts prompt staff to log onto a
mobile device at the point of medication
administration, ensuring that the medications
to be administered within a given time period
are electronically tagged with a date, time and
signature
Eliminating signature omissions is a critical part of
maintaining compliance
It can be achieved INSTANTLY with the implementation of an EMM system

17.  Right documentation
 Right resident
 Right medication
 Right route
 Right dose
 Right time
R’s
These safety alerts further support accreditation
requirements by enforcing the six R’s of correct
medication administration:

18.  Staff are prompted to enter the reason
for why the PRN was administered
 In instances where EMM integrates with
an electronic clinical system, this
information is automatically recorded within
a progress note to ensure more effective
evaluation of PRN medications
EMM also provides further safeguarding against
the compliance risks associated with the
administration of PRN ‘as required’ medications

19. 2
Increased efficiency
and productivity during
medication rounds

20. This process is not only
cumbersome, but can easily increase
the opportunity for discrepancies and
errors

21. Centralised, electronic medication administration
records (eMAR) also ensure staff focus on only the
specific medications due to be administered within
a given time period
EMM systems offer a tangible boost to efficiency
and productivity by saving staff from manually
sorting through paper-based medication records to
determine what medication is due at what time

22. 3 Reduced pressure on
resources

23. Traditional medication management
processes often requires Registered or
Enrolled Nurses (RN) to manage hundreds, if
not thousands, of medications for residents
EMM reduces the pressure of these
tasks by providing a common electronic
record that can be accessed by all
authorised staff within a care home

25. 4 Enhanced governance
and decision making

26. This helps care home providers to ensure that their
organisation’s medication administration processes and
records are always completed to the highest standard
of quality

27. Management can easily and quickly obtain access to
data in real-time including medications
administered, medications missed, PRNs and more
With functionality to electronically capture data and
centralise this information, EMM also increases
visibility of medication management processes
throughout an entire organisation
This electronic data can also be analysed to improve
decision making and resident health outcomes

28. 5
Streamlined communications
between care home and
pharmacy

29. CHUM study found 50% of all communication-
related medication errors occurred between the
care home and the pharmacy
EMM systems streamline the documentation
requirements of medication management by
facilitating electronic communication with the
pharmacy

31. 6 Improved experience for
care and nursing staff

32. The entire social care sector faces challenges
with recruiting and retaining qualified staff
These challenges are compounding with a shrinking
workforce, and increasing workloads for those who
remain in the industry

34. How?

35. Staff are freed from the intensive
documentation and administrative duties and
given more time to focus on providing safe
and high quality care

37. When implemented correctly, electronic
systems that provide critical clinical and
medication information at the point of care play
a critical role in:
 Reducing system-wide
inefficiencies, compliance risks and
pressure on staff
 Improving resident safety

38. www.icarehealth.co.uk
iCareHealth is a social care
software provider that
specialises in electronic
medication management
www.icarehealth.co.uk
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