Salvation Army enlists mobility for aged care centres

The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus, which has offered care to the aged community since 1899 in Australia, has deployed a fleet of ruggedised tablets and medical devices across two of its facilities.

The organisation delivers care through several services including independent living units, low- and high-care facilities and community care packages. It serves approximately 1400 residents and has 1100 care and clinical staff at more than 17 sites across New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

According to Mahfuz Matin, IT systems manager for The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus, the organisation recently undertook an extensive program to modernise their facilities.

“Staff used standard laptops and desktops. Care personnel had to engage in a time-consuming process of hand-writing care notes beside the resident’s bed, and then electronically updating this information via a computer kiosk or when they return to the office,” Matin says.

The organisation initially launched a trial of the Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1 convertible tablet PCs and Toughbook CF-H1 Mark II Mobile Clinical Assistants (MCA) at one New South Wales facility and one Queensland facility.

Ultimately, the organisation has procured and deployed 16 tablet PCs and 13 Toughbook MCAs across two facilities, with plans to deploy both models across all Aged Care Plus facilities.

“Our aim for the Toughbook C1 is to use these as an alternative to computer kiosks - meaning our care personnel will be able to better manage clinical and care documentation,” Matin says.

According to Matin, the convertible tablets suit the purposes of the organisation well.

“The versatile keyboard and multitouch screen for finger and electronic stylus are perfect for staff to use for both clinical documentation and medication management,” he says.

Meanwhile, the MCA device helped the organisation to improve medication management.

“Our care personnel can rely on the device to perform even in challenging conditions,” Matin says.

“Care personnel have noticed a significant improvement and simplification in medication management since the deployment of the [MCA] - particularly as it is highly durable and able to be fully sanitised, which of course is crucial in the health industry,” he added.