The article is sponsored by Rosie. In this Voices interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with Harold Landers, president and CEO of EHR connectivity platform Rosie, to learn the top ways that SNFs are using technology since the start of the pandemic, including specifically how operators are using tech to alleviate burdens on nursing managers. Landers also shares how SNF operators are quelling family concerns and reassuring them that their loved one is in the best hands.
Skilled Nursing News: What career experiences do you most draw from in your role today as president and CEO of Rosie?
Harold Landers: As the new CEO and president of Rosie, I am extremely fortunate to be working with a team that is just as passionate about this industry as I am. Having employees who share the same goals of helping to meet and exceed the expectations of their customers is most important to me.
When I think about what I do today, many of the same things apply, operationally, that I experienced in my many years in retail pharmacy. However, in long-term care, things are constantly changing. We work in an industry that has its challenges, but helping to steer our company toward initiatives that impact patient outcomes, employee experiences and the overall health of our customer’s bottom line is what I find most rewarding.
Our fine team here at Rosie demonstrates each day just how much they care about what they do as well as those who they do it with. Our company has been built upon attracting the best of employees and welcoming them and treating them like family. Therefore, my experiences, both past and present, have been successful because of the care and dedication of the team surrounding me.
The pandemic added a significant level of workload and accountability requirements for the job of nurse managers. What are the top ways that technology tools are helping alleviate those new burdens?
Landers: Nurse managers, along with everyone else on the front line, truly deserve a hand for all that they have heroically done and continue to do as we battle this pandemic. These brave caregivers put their own lives at risk, making sure that their patients are well cared for and their facilities remain afloat.
The first step to benefiting from the use of technology is simply to welcome it and embrace it. When a nurse manager, for example, embraces technology, they’ll find that certain tasks can be done faster, and many redundancies be eliminated. Nurse managers have discovered that with the use of technology, they’re able to allow their CNAs to take on more of an active role in handling several of these tasks that they have had to personally handle in the past.
Today’s technology can give nurse managers confidence that these tasks are being handled correctly. And equally important, if we provide our nurse managers with tools to help them do their job more easily, this might help to keep them happy in their job which will, consequently, help reduce the high turnover that the business is currently experiencing.
Our fine partners like Tapestry Health and Remote MD make it possible for providers to have the “full circle” of patient care in place, as usually evidenced by a reduction in rehospitalizations, a happier and more efficient work force and a tremendous savings to their bottom line.
Getting nursing assistants trained quickly is a huge challenge for SNFs, especially in a time when employee turnover is at an all-time high. What are some of the best practices that SNFs and other long-term care providers can take to expedite the training process?
Landers: Yes, the entire industry is tasked with being able to get their caregivers trained faster and more thoroughly. I’m pleased to say that technology, like Rosie’s in-app tutorial training, can help to address this. At any long-term care center, the training expectation should be that everyone follows their center’s best practices. This is especially true with the high turnover at hand, since it appears that nurse managers are having to spend a huge portion of their day training and retraining. Technology can take a lot of this off their plate and can also help certify their employees so that they are able to deliver quality and peak performance.
With the Rosie Racoon in-app training tutorial, a non-experienced CNA can participate in a live interactive training that will not only train them but will also take them through several rounds of having to demonstrate the use of the equipment they will be using every day. This entire process takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes, and does not take away time from the nurse manager.
Once the CNA’s been fully certified and trained to use the equipment, the nurse manager will hopefully be able to have this individual working on the floor, capturing and documenting patient vitals much faster than they would have in a traditional classroom or hands-on training setting. As nurse managers adopt this process as a standard practice, they’ll be able to reach a wider pool of interested employees who can make an immediate contribution. If this technology can help all nurse managers get their new employees fully trained with little to no time or effort on their part, then this alone is a game-changer in today’s world.
What can SNF operators do to help employees understand the benefits of the SNF’s technology systems so that employees see that the tech is there to help them not hinder them?
Landers: Embracing technology is usually tied to the user being able to understand its value and how it benefits them in their day to day operation. If SNF operators will make it a point to share real-life examples with their employees on how their workload can be reduced while they are preventing transcription errors and helping to make things better for the patient, then they are more likely to embrace new technology. Everyone would like to be more impactful in their role and, especially, if they are able to do it easier and with less stress.
Implementing technology is not always embraced as something that’s fun because it does involve a change of some sort. However, if providers will have strict guidelines in place for their employees to embrace the new technology, then they’ll see the clouds begin to lift within just a couple of weeks. Very soon the new technology is something that employees feel they cannot live without, for example.
Family members are highly inquisitive about the level of care that their loved one receives in a nursing facility. What can SNF operators do proactively to anticipate family questions, and help reassure them that their loved one is receiving the best possible care?
Landers: I went through this experience not too long ago with my mother was admitted to a SNF in another state. I could only be there with her on weekends; therefore, I was very concerned about the level of care she was receiving, and I felt much better about things since this skilled nursing center had wonderful technology in place. They had very engaged and happy employees using it. I was confident that her vitals were being captured each day and that her physicians were able to see those vitals and offer sound interventions.
By adding Tapestry’s vitals management, long term care centers really can close the loop on patient care, and this brings immediate help to those at the center and, ultimately, much better outcomes for their patients.
I have personally observed, in the past, nurse managers having to spend a lot of time on the phone with their patient’s provider. However, by using technology, providers can view patient trends and provide direction and intervention remotely. This helps to administer patient care much more promptly. As we know, family members are always concerned about their loved ones and when they can see the increased level of care that is provided by the adoption of technology, appear more at ease.
While the expense of adding or expanding technology be a financial burden, what steps can providers take and what questions can they ask that might help them see the overall value of technology?
Harold: It should be important for providers to inquire about the level of support, training and follow-up that comes with the technology package that they’re looking to purchase. They should also ask for proof or references of how their team will be able to save time, for example. We all know that a huge measurement of the effectiveness of new technology would be less hospital readmissions, less state fines from state audits and a happier and more engaged employee group. These things, if improved, can make a huge positive impact to that facility’s bottom line, thus a very remarkable ROI on the expense of the new technology.
Finish this sentence: “The top strategy that long-term care providers should employ in 2022 to best prepare for their technology needs of 2023 is…”?
Landers: They should identify the top three areas of concern and plan for technology that will impact these three areas the most.
For example, at Rosie, our technology is developed to show immediate and measurable impact on these three things. Number one, improving the workflow efficiencies for caregivers, which will improve accuracy and will also keep them happy in their role and thus help reduce turnover. Number two, eliminating unnecessary hospital readmissions by making immediate patient data available for the physicians, as well as the right connected medical devices that will allow them to triage properly. In many cases, they’re able to avoid that hospital readmission.
Third, reducing the avoidable state fines by making sure the patient data is captured and documented accurately and immediately, as well as providing infection indicators and alerts that will help guide the caregivers toward the immediate task needed for that patient. If alerts and indicators are reacted to faster, this will help keep the infection from spreading further.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rosie empowers caregivers with fast, error-free documentation using the simple Rosie EHR Connectivity platform from Rosie. To learn how Rosie can help your SNF, visit nurserosie.com.
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].