Case Study: “Visionflex is a game changer in aged care.”

August 9, 2022 ∙ Aged Care ∙ Case Studies

Photo of A1 nurse performing a clinical examination in the home of an aged care patient

For registered nurses, Rod Wyber and Carol McGillivray, introducing Visionflex telehealth technology into their home nursing business, A1 Nursing Services, has created a whole new way of delivering vital, high-quality clinical care services, directly to their aged care clients.

Telehealth – “a game changer in aged care.”

Experienced registered nurses, Rod Wyber and Carol McGillivray, are passionate about providing high-quality clinical care to patients.

They have worked in acute nursing, perioperative care, orthopaedics, palliative care, bush nursing, government health consulting and facility management.

However, a decade spent in senior nursing and management roles in the aged care sector left them both feeling extremely disillusioned about the variable quality of care that was often available to aged care residents.

The cause of the problem is multi-faceted, and includes:

shortages of experienced nursing staff,
difficulty accessing timely and effective external medical services, including GPs and medical specialists,
over-reliance on ambulance transfers to busy hospital emergency departments where patients can experience long wait times,
the high cost of providing qualified in-person health services,
a lack of digital health records and digital system integration and interoperability,
and an institutionalised approach to patient care and compassion.

The challenge?

The challenge for Rod and Carol was, how can healthcare providers transform the provision of clinical care in the aged care sector, so that it becomes consistent, coordinated, compassionate, and most importantly, patient-centred?

The solution:

Using the portable Visionflex ProEX Mobile telehealth system and its suite of integrated medical devices, registered nurses are now delivering advanced clinical healthcare services directly into an elderly patient’s home.

Easily transported by the nurse to the patient’s home using a customised wheeled backpack, the ProEX telehealth solution enables patients to receive timely, effective, and personalised clinical care in the home, with the support of a familiar registered nurse by the patient’s side.

Services provided include: remote GP and specialist video-call consultations, mobile imaging, detailed patient examinations and assessments, diagnostic testing, and routine care services such as hygiene and safety management.

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An A1 nurse performing a remote clinical examination in the home of an aged care patient with the ProEX Mobile Kit — Visionflex ProEX Mobile Kit telehealth solution being used by A1 Nursing Services in Port Macquarie. Credit: Lindsay Moller Productions

Enabling coordinated, consistent, compassionate, patient-centred aged care.

In 2019, Rod and Carol established A1 Nursing Services, a registered nurse-led aged care and home-care service provider, in Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

A1’s team of registered nurses provide high-quality clinical nursing services for elderly people choosing to age in their own home, for elderly residents of residential aged care facilities (RACFs), and also for local NDIS recipients.

As part of their offer, A1 Nursing Services uses the Visionflex ProEX telehealth system and its suite of integrated medical devices to bring advanced clinical healthcare directly into the patient’s home.

From the comfort of the patient’s home, nurses use integrated medical devices to assess heart and lungs, check blood oxygen levels, check blood pressure and temperature, and perform detailed skin and wound assessments.

A1 nurses can connect their patients with remote GPs and medical specialists via advanced video-call technology for live consultations and patient examinations.

Patient data and media collected using the ProEX is shared digitally with remote health professionals for collaborative, real-time telehealth consultations and evidence-based diagnoses.

Explains Rod: “Visionflex telehealth technology enhances connection: we take the technology into the client’s home, and we can connect instantly with the client’s regular GP or specialist.

“We can use the technology to link live with a cardiologist for a video consultation. The integrated medical devices enable us to do ECG, take their blood pressure, check blood glucose, and assess their heart at home, so that during the live consultation, we’re all on the same page and everyone is looking at the same results, with the client included.

“Visionflex has opened up a whole new way of doing things.”

Benefits:

Visionflex increases the provision of clinical health services available to elderly patients, in the home.

Visionflex improves time-to-treatment rates and clinician workflows.

Visionflex improves rates of potentially preventable hospitalisations.

Visionflex enables the provision of patient-centred care.

Visionflex improves cost savings.

Product solution:

A1 Nursing Services are currently using the ProEX Mobile Kit: an all-inclusive backpack solution with a customised range of peripherals to suit their needs. The A1 ProEX Mobile Kit includes:

Capture high-definition, live images and videos, as well as important clinical health data from patient encounters on this ruggedised, state-of-the-art telehealth tablet.