Home care software can help you improve your communication with your employees, no matter how infrequently you see them in person. Your caregivers will benefit from instant knowledge-sharing, notifications while on the go and secure access to patient details.

Keep reading to discover the role software can play in facilitating exceptional patient care. 

The Importance of Effective Communication for Patient Care

Effective communication is a cornerstone of quality patient care. When your caregivers have access to the latest updates to clients’ care plans and medical records, they will be better positioned to make the correct care decisions. They’ll also have the insights they need to better communicate with clients and take an empathetic approach to delivering home care.

Patient details aren’t the only thing your employees need access to in order to provide quality health care. Company-wide updates to procedures, notifications of new shift assignments, additional documentation requests: these are all things you would want your employees to receive as soon as possible.

Why Communication Is a Challenge in Home Care

Home care agency employees rarely meet face to face. They aren’t working in the same hospital or assisted living residence, which means they have to rely on digital solutions to communicate. This can lead to several challenges, including:

Patient Privacy and Data Security

Your communication system must be HIPAA compliant. Unfortunately, simple errors can lead to costly HIPAA non-compliance issues, such as:

• Patient data being accessed on insecure devices

• Caregivers having access to protected client information that they don't need

• Other people viewing or overhearing protected patient data, e.g during phone calls

Slow Communication Methods

Your caregivers need access to the latest updates to patients’ files. But when these updates are shared via email or manually uploaded to systems at the end of the day, it can lead to your employees using outdated information.

Accessing Patient Records

If your staff are struggling to find the right email attachment or are unsure about which of the many files in your system contain the most up-to-date version of a client’s care plan, your agency has a problem. Your technology is getting in the way of your employees' ability to provide quality patient care.

Staff Turnover

Employing talented health care professionals is what allows your home care agency to grow. However, as you hire new team members and say goodbye to others, your communication system can struggle. You need to ensure ex-employees don't have access to patient files, while new team members have to be added to your document management and messaging systems.

How Software Facilitates Better Communication Among Health Care Professionals

Software solutions designed not just for the health care industry but specifically with home care agencies in mind can help you and your caregivers communicate better.

Instant Sharing of Patient Updates

The right software platform will allow your caregivers to securely view patient documentation. You’ll be able to control access from the web app, while your employees can use the mobile app to check and update documentation on the go. 

Progress notes are an essential tool for home care, and that’s where health care software can shine. Progress notes templates and voice-to-text tools can support your care team in writing high-quality progress notes while still in the patient’s home. And by keeping it all in the app, you can rest assured that these vital updates will be instantly shared with all relevant team members.

You won’t have to worry about lost attachments or stolen phones: all your patient data will be kept secure and instantly available.

Automated Schedule Notifications

Home care technology will not only enable you to schedule quicker and more effectively. It will also automatically take into account your care team’s availability when helping you build schedules. 

With the right software platform, you can assign multiple patients to each caregiver’s shift, as well as setting up team and recurring shifts. You’ll then be able to instantly share the schedule, complete with patient information, with your care team who will receive a push notification. You can say goodbye to worrying about missed emails that result in no-shows.

In-App and SMS Messaging

Perhaps you need to share updates on your home care agency’s processes. Maybe you want to congratulate specific caregivers on a job well done. Or it could be that you need to ask certain employees to share updated right-to-work documentation.

Home care software will allow you to instantly send group and individual messages. You can use SMS push notifications or set it so that your employees receive messages via the caregiver app. You’ll be able to communicate quicker, plus you can relax knowing that your messages won’t get lost in your care team’s spam folders.

Support Your Care Team in Providing Exceptional Patient Care

Communication and collaboration are the keys to better patient care. They help ensure that your employees can instantly share important patient updates, access accurate scheduling information and receive updates from managers. As a result, your home care team will be able to make better health care decisions and continually improve the standards of care.

The right technology platform will support your caregivers by enabling more effective communication and collaboration. What's more, it will do so via a user-friendly software platform that meets the rigorous standards of the health care industry.

ShiftCare's home health care software supports home care agencies as they deliver patient-centric care. It will help you with scheduling, document management, client communications, billing and more. The dedicated app for caregivers allows you to instantly share patient information while remaining HIPAA compliant.

Discover how software can help your employees provide care of the highest quality. Try ShiftCare for free.