PointClickCare for Nursing Essay Sample

Technology has made work easier in many spheres of society. Indeed, nearly all sectors of the economy, as well as the community, has some instance of technology presented. In this generation we live in, technology is changing quite rapidly. Even with these changes, society is getting better ways of doing things. The health sector has not been left behind when it comes to technology-based care (Correia, 2013). Indeed there are new machines as well as treatments that are making life easier and treatment better. Together with these are particular computer systems that are involved with keeping proper records and other secondary elements of healthcare that are important to the efficient and effective handling of patients before, during and after healthcare. PointClickCare is such technology that is computer based and has aided in many aspects of healthcare, particularly those dealing with senior care (Kovacs, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze PointClickCare and its relevance to nursing.

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PointClickCare is a long-term care computer software that offers modules that are cloud-based. It is particularly created for the senior care space. Other than that, it also offers care delivery management, marketing, financial management, business intelligence, compliance, and quality. It offers users the ability to be compliant to the regulations, reimbursement accuracy, keeps records safe and the reduction of duplication particularly in the data entry. On the side of management, PointClickCare helps workflow management, tracking of patient compliance remotely, look at practitioner progress and the improvement in the quality of patient care. The system comes with a point of care on touchscreen devices, nutritional and medication management, and HIPPA compliant text messaging platform (Kovacs, 2017).

Nursing is a field of medicine within the healthcare sector that involves the care of families and individuals who are going through particular ailments affecting their bodies and ensuring they receive proper healthcare and treatment all through until they recovery (Barnard, 2015). Their main aim is the attainment, maintenance and/or recovery of optimal good health which ultimately improves the quality of life. In the last few decades, advancements in technology have been made available to nurses to help them take better care of their patients more efficiently and safely (Correia, 2013). It is indeed true that we cannot compare nursing today to what nursing was 30 years ago. The changes from inventions such as computer tablets to electronic charts to many other advances, there is more advancement in how health is delivered and nursing has adapted to these changes and advancements (Barnard, 2015).

PointClickCare is one of the new technological software developments that has revolutionized nursing and made it easier for nurses to function in a more efficient and effective manner especially in senior care. Senior care is in a period where there are many transformations that are presenting ever-increasing challenges to the senior care providers, particularly the skilled nurses. Indeed, with the aging population increasing rapidly, as well as the increase in the cost of healthcare, most of the patient care for these senior citizens are moving from hospitals to senior care facilities. With this change, the need for nursing (acuity) also increases (Kovacs, 2017).

The healthcare industry is facing a huge challenge especially in the payment and reimbursement landscape, an increasing demand to improve the quality of healthcare which should be demonstrated through patient outcomes, higher emphasis on patient management that is felt across all areas and facilities within the care continuum (Allen & Ouslander, 2017). Together with that, healthcare is also getting more complex, and there has been a need to create a better regulated and compliant system. All these challenges facing healthcare need the adoption of an adaptable and scalable technology that is able to centralize the key patient information, improve the financial performance, streamline day-to-day operations, meet all the necessary regulatory requirements, and ensure proper facilitation of care delivery transcending care settings. PointClickCare is the solution as it meets all these challenges in a flexible, functional and fast manner that can easily be adopted and deployed in a variety of devices that can be found in nursing and general healthcare operations (Kovacs, 2017).

Being an integrated computer application means that PointClickCare is a complex system that brings together a multi-tenant architecture framework. It means that the system has been created to be used by different individuals (Kovacs, 2017). Indeed, the system involves three primary components: the core platform, interoperability engine, and the add-on applications. The core platform includes the electronic health record as well as the revenue cycle management (RCM) solution. The core platform is the area through which the nurses, as well as other healthcare professionals, access the software. On the other hand, the add-on applications include the additional care delivery management, the business intelligence solutions, and the financial management section. The interoperability engine gives the users the ability to integrate with a wide variety of external entities. The whole system is quite complicated for the nursing staff to use efficiently, and it is important for them to get training and get experience before using the application (Allen & Ouslander, 2017).

For instance, when a nurse wants to access the medical records for the administration of medication, he/she follows the following procedure: Once in the electric medical records (eMAR), the first step is login in using the nurse's credentials at the appropriate fields. The nurse then proceeds and in the next window that appears, clicks on the clinical tab and selects eMAR under Module in the drop-down box that appears. This will lead to a new page that has all the patients' records appearing. The nurse proceeds to click on a patient's name that he/she is looking for which opens a page that has all the patient information. From here, the nurse could prepare medications that have been listed for administration in the patient page. After this, the nurse clicks on the "Y" box for the particular medication he/she intends to administer. You then click on the "padlock" icon to lock the eMAR while delivering and administering the medication (Kovacs, 2017).

After full administration of all required medication, click on "Locked" to unlock the eMAR. In the case where a patient has taken all the medication, click "save," however, if the patient refuses to take a particular medication or administration could not take place due to particular reasons, click "N." A new window will open and from here, click "Administration Details" and select the reason for the inability of administration of medication. From here, select "Record" and then "Save" (Kovacs, 2017).

For entering nursing information into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR), the nurse logs into the PCC and left clicks "Clinical" tab where a list of patients can be found. Select the name of the patient and if he/she is not listed, click on "All Residents" and double-click on his/her name, click "Prog Note" and click the drop-down box in "Select Appropriate Type" field. Write the nursing information on the "Note Text" box that appears. Once done, click on the "ABC" spell check icon to spell check and then click "Sign," enter the password and click "Sign" again to save the documentation to EMR (Allen & Ouslander, 2017).

PointClickCare has been instrumental and has transformed many aspects of nursing and senior care. For instance, it has improved efficiency since it is able to follow particular patient record needs, track payments and other issues quite easily. Also, since it is computer-based, all these can be achieved while in mobile or even away from the location. Furthermore, it has ensured that patient records are comprehensive and accurate, it has ensured increased compliance with laws and complex regulations. The multi-tenant software that allows users from multiple users has also eased healthcare delivery and made it more efficient. It can be used on cross-continuum care including hospital, senior health facilities, and even homes easing the transition for both patient and nurses (Kovacs, 2017).

However, every technology has certain challenges, and PointClickCare also faces some challenges. For one, it is uncertain whether the company will be in existence in the long term considering that they have been registering losses and expect further losses in the future. The system is quite complex which poses a challenge, especially to its usability particularly to nurses who are not adapt to computer technology. Indeed, it requires the use of training to work well for the users (Correia, 2013). As a computer application, it can be hacked and affect confidentiality which is an important part of healthcare (Kovacs, 2017). Also, it is susceptible to computer viruses which may cause failure and loss of information, especially where there is no backup for the information which will be detrimental to patient care. Failure to maintain the infrastructure could lead to service outages which will cause unnecessary delays in usage. The continuous changes in the healthcare industry, especially in the regulatory framework, could have adverse effects on the business which will affect its application (Allen & Ouslander, 2017).

In conclusion, PointClickCare is an important system that has revolutionized nursing, especially in senior care. The platform is also wide and covers the administration and management of healthcare in a more efficient and effective manner. Indeed, nursing has become easier with the introduction of this application as it allows the use of mobile devices that can update patient information in an instance which makes it easier to implement the new changes and conduct healthcare while at the same time maintaining quality. It is also important as it has all records of patients, the payment procedures, as well as rules and regulations that are all important towards achieving the best results. It has numerous benefits to the nursing community which is all found in its definition. However, similar to any other application, it is susceptible to challenges. All in all, it has made service delivery particularly in nursing easier.

References

Allen, K., & Ouslander, J. G. (2017). Age-Friendly Health Systems: Their Time Has Come. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(1), 19-21.

Barnard, A. (2015). Radical nursing and the emergence of technique as healthcare technology. Nursing Philosophy, 17(1), 8-18.

Correia, S. (2013). Chapter-40 Computer Applications in the Health Care System. Principles and Practice of Nursing: Senior Nursing Procedures (Vol. 2), 373-380.

Kovacs, M. (2017, September 20). PointClickCare aims to digitally transform the senior care sector. Retrieved from https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/pointclickcare-aims-to-digitally-transform-the-senior-care-sector/396736