Residents in aged care facilities are prescribed an average of 9.75 medications per person, and facilities administer around 10,000 medications per day using largely paper-based systems. This complex medication management process involves risks such as errors, which can be reduced through electronic medication management systems. These systems streamline workflows, provide alerts to reduce mistakes, centralize records, free up nurses' time, and improve governance, safety and staff experience.

2. were admitted as a result of
adverse medication events
30%
people were admitted to hospitals from
residential aged care facilities
Around 75% of these errors were
potentially preventable

4. Sommers et al identified polypharmacy as:
the concurrent use of 5+ medicines
In 91.2% of residential aged care facilities, residents
are prescribed an average of 9.75medicines per person
Residents in aged care facilities are commonly
prescribed multiple medications at the
same time, given their complex health conditions

5. While an aged care facility with
1,000 beds would be, on
average, administering up to
10,000 medications per day

6. Now consider that the primary tools
being used by the majority of aged
care 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
residential aged care 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 source and requires
involvement from numerous internal and
external healthcare professionals

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

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 profiles that
also ensure staff focus on only the specific
medications due to be administered within a given
time period, by only displaying this information
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
registered nurses

23. Traditional medication administration
processes often requires Registered Nurses
(RN) to administer hundreds, if not thousands,
of medications daily to residents
EMM reduces that pressure on RNs
by providing a common electronic
record that can be accessed by all
authorised staff within the facility

25. 4 Enhanced governance
and decision making

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

27. Head office 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 Improved experience for
care and nursing staff

29. The entire aged 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

31. How?

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

34. 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

35. www.icarehealth.co.uk
iCareHealth is an aged care
software provider that
specialises in electronic
medication management
www.icarehealth.com.au
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