Abstract
Abstract
Background
The Australian government has implemented a compulsory aged care accreditation system to guide and monitor the risk management approach in registered residential aged care (RAC) homes. This research assessed the contribution of electronic health records (EHR) to risk management in RAC homes in relation to the extent that aged care accreditation fulfils its role.
Methods
A convenience sample of 5560 aged care accreditation reports published from 2011 to 2018 was manually downloaded from the Accreditation Agency web site. A mixed-method approach of text data mining and manual content analysis was used to identify any significant differences in failure to meet accreditation outcomes among the RAC homes. This took account of whether EHR or paper records were used, year of accreditation, and size and location of the homes.
Results
It appears that aged care accreditation was focused on structure and process, with limited attention to outcome. There was a big variation between homes in their use of measurement indicators to assess accreditation outcomes. No difference was found in outcomes between RAC homes using EHR and those using paper records. Only 3% of the RAC homes were found to have failed some accreditation outcomes. Failure in monitoring mechanism was the key factor for failing many accreditation outcomes. The top five failed outcomes were Human Resource Management, Clinical Care, Information Systems, Medication Management and Behavioural Management.
Conclusions
Sub-optimal outcomes have limited the effectiveness of accreditation in driving and monitoring risk management for care recipient safety in RAC homes. Although EHR is an important structure and process component for RAC services, it made a limited contribution to risk management for accreditation in Australian RAC homes. Either EHR was not effective, or the accreditation process was not robust enough to recognize its influence. Aged care accreditation in Australia needs to develop further outcome-based measures that are supported by robust data infrastructure and clear guidance.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Health Informatics,Health Policy,Computer Science Applications
Reference24 articles.
1. Qian S, Yu P, Hailey DM, Wang N. Factors influencing nursing time spent on administration of medication in an Australian residential aged care home. J Nurs Manag. 2016;24(3):427–34.
2. Qian S, Yu P, Zhang Z, Hailey DM, Davy PJ, Nelson MI. The work pattern of personal care workers in two Australian nursing homes: a time-motion study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2012;12(1):305.
3. Armstrong BK, Gillespie JA, Leeder SR, Rubin GL, Russell LM. Challenges in health and health care for Australia. Med J Aust. 2007;187(9):485.
4. Jiang T, Yu P. The relationship between using electronic health records and meeting accreditation standards for client safety in residential aged care homes. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2015;214:134–8.
5. Taylor BJ. Risk management paradigms in health and social services for professional decision making on the long-term care of older people. Br J Soc Work. 2006;36(8):1411–29.
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献