Staffing is one of the greatest challenges assisted living providers face today. With high turnover, burnout, and overstretched staff, many communities experience expensive hiring and reduced quality of care.
To address this concern, administrators are seeking ways to improve the day-to-day experience of caregivers and other staff in their communities. By making their lives easier, staff are more likely to last.
An often overlooked method to improve staff experience lies in the nurse call system. At first glance, nurse call simply alerts caregivers when a resident needs assistance. But its functionality and features can make or break the experience of staff who provide care in assisted living.
Functionality: The Most Essential Nurse Call Feature That Often Gets Missed
A faulty nurse call system leads to massive headaches. The network may have spotty coverage, leading to missed alerts and frustration. The system may rely on outdated technology, like corridor lights, pagers, and display screens that don’t show all the information that staff need. Sometimes, the system simply does not work as promised.
Replacing a broken system feels overwhelming. But the lack of basic functionality is costing communities by adding friction and reducing the effectiveness of staff efforts. Caregivers use the nurse call system every day. A frustrating experience compounds the stress of their work.
Turn Basic Alarms Into Software That Equips Assisted Living Staff
Basic nurse call functionality is only the first step to ensuring this system is reaching its full potential. An advanced wireless nurse call system like QUANTUM™ allows assisted living communities to experience next-level features. For example, the mobile app is a key staff tool to modernize nurse call and make their lives easier.
This app goes far beyond a corridor light or pager. It delivers detailed alert information through an easy-to-use mobile interface. At a glance, staff can see resident location, notes on their environment or care, and whether or not someone is currently addressing the alert. A staff member who is able to respond will “claim” the alert, so teams can easily coordinate and reduce redundancies.
This makes the staff experience smoother, shortens response times, and ensures every call is answered. With customized alerting, QUANTUM™ sends notifications via the app, text, email, and more.
To further assist with coordination, the app has a built-in messaging feature. There is also an option to add resident photos to the alert interface. This helps new staff to identify residents.
The app interface is intuitive, so staff can easily use it without intense training or a steep learning curve. This is nurse call that goes above and beyond traditional alerting to make life easier for assisted living staff.
Track Care To Gain Visibility Into Increasing Resident Acuity and Staff Performance
What if communities could translate every alert into care data? That transforms decision-making, giving insight into increased resident acuity, staffing levels, and performance. With the QUANTUM™ Cares feature built into every nurse call system, communities can track care like never before. This improves the resident experience, shows opportunities for revenue, and celebrates high performing staff.
The Cares feature allows staff to quickly and easily note what each resident needed when they activated the nurse call. Over time, this data compounds to reveal patterns that affect everything from billing to staff levels.
For example, Cares tracks call volume and staffing, providing visibility into how much coverage each shift really needs. This keeps staff from becoming overwhelmed during high call times and makes scheduling decisions clear.
When assisted living communities rely on the care plan to determine billing, tracking the level of care delivered is essential to unlock unseen revenue and expenses. This also equips staff to have conversations with family members about their loved one’s care, backed with real data for informed decisions.
Having accurate care plans and call volume visibility prevents staff from being overloaded. But improving staff experience is about more than just removing obstacles. It also means recognizing and rewarding the efforts that they are already making. With Cares, managers can view the highest performing staff members answering every call. Appreciation goes a long way in improving morale and keeping staff committed.
Ready to Transform the Experience of Your Assisted Living Staff?
JNL Technologies, Inc. is dedicated to creating reliable, easy-to-use technology. QUANTUM™ by JNL is founded and designed by senior living workers, for senior living workers. Not content with basic nurse call, this team is always seeking new innovations while maintaining reliable functionality.
Explore how a better nurse call system can elevate the experience of your assisted living staff. Schedule a call with a QUANTUM™ expert today!