Aged care organisations and UOW unite to initiate $400,000 project
15 Nov 2007 | Renee Criddle
The managers from three major aged care providers in the Illawarra will meet leading researchers in health informatics at the University of Wollongong tomorrow (Friday 16 November) to formally initiate a $400,000 grant project that promises to lead to improved information management systems and aged care practice in Australia.
The aged care providers will be represented tomorrow by the Illawarra Retirement Trust (Mr Craig Smith, Manager, Illawarra Area), UnitingCare Ageing South Eastern Region (Ms Marisa Mastroianni, CEO) and Warrigal Care (Mr Mark Sewell, Deputy CEO).
Mr Jeremy Janes, Manager, Information Solutions for RSL Care in Brisbane, will also participate in tomorrow’s meeting via teleconference. The peak industry body, Aged Care and Community Services Australia, from Melbourne, is another participant in the project.
Dr Ping Yu, Director of the Health Informatics Research Lab in UOW’s School of Information Systems and Technology, said the project would evaluate the factors which are critical for the successful introduction of electronic nursing documentation systems into residential aged care facilities.
“The quality of care delivered to the frail elderly in nursing homes relies heavily on the care givers’ knowledge about their care needs and how to provide care that addresses these needs. As care is delivered by a multi-disciplinary team of health and aged care workers in nursing homes, the timely and effective communication among the members of the team about these care needs is essential for the delivery of coordinated and best-practice care,” Dr Yu said.
“Care needs and interventions are commonly documented in paper-based records in nursing homes. Writing these nursing records is a lengthy process and takes time which could otherwise be spent caring for the elderly.
The paper records are also often illegible and difficult to access,” she said. Given the pressure to cope with an ever-expanding ageing population, aged care organisations have begun to introduce computer-based nursing records.
Dr Yu has been working with the above-mentioned aged care organisations over the past five years investigating the best practice to implement clinical IT solutions in nursing homes.
“Although promising, getting the IT technology to work effectively and be accepted by the aged care workers, most of whom are women over 45 years of age, has proved to be very challenging. The current project provides a unique opportunity for the consortium members to work together in this endeavour. The knowledge and lessons learned from this project will contribute to the improvement of information management systems and aged care practice in Australia,” Dr Yu said.
The project is funded by the Australian Research Council Industry Linkage Grants Scheme with industry partners having contributed $100,000 of the overall $400,000 amount.
Best photo/filming opportunity: Midday in the Faculty Executive Meeting Room, Faculty of Informatics (Bldg 3). For further information contact Dr Ping Yu on (02) 4221 5412.
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