Telehealth – supporting aged care providers and staff
THE CHALLENGE
According to the Aged Care Royal Commission, a highly skilled aged care workforce is vital to the success of the aged care system.
Only with appropriate skills and training can aged care staff meet the needs of patients and provide high-quality, safe, and appropriate care and services, ultimately improving patient health outcomes.
A key recommendation from the Royal Commission includes a focus on ongoing and easily accessible professional development through the creation of short courses, skills sets and micro-credentials for the aged care workforce. Clinical placements are also recommended.
The Final Report has highlighted numerous focus training areas including:
- Dementia care
- Palliative care
- Mental health
- Oral and dental health
- Wound management
- Medication management
- Infection control
- Culturally safe and trauma-informed care for providers of aged care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Cultural training for residents from diverse backgrounds.
THE SOLUTION
The Visionflex telehealth system, with its revolutionary built-in clinical capabilities, is a valuable tool to deliver ongoing professional development and training to aged care staff to update and maintain their skills and knowledge.
Via telehealth video conferencing, remote specialists and educators can directly instruct, observe, and mentor staff. In real-time, they can engage with staff to demonstrate and teach techniques and treatments, assess competency, and provide feedback immediately.
Staff training on how to use telehealth is another important skill: The Aged Care Royal Commission has focused on the importance of technology in aged care and for those ageing at home, and that staff must be trained in its use.
Overall, telehealth supports aged care providers and staff by providing them with access to medical expertise and collaboration 24/7. The technology allows them to call for medical assistance, receive faster support, and potentially reduce the need for patient transfer and hospital visits.
Public attitudes towards telehealth have also changed, and now there is an expectation that digital technologies will be available in healthcare settings, and that staff will be adept at using them.
Aged care providers can establish themselves as industry leaders by becoming early adopters of telehealth technology.
Discover a new Vision – a virtual health solution for aged care
Vision is an easy-to-use, low-cost telehealth software solution that delivers medical expertise and allied health services to elderly patients via internet-connected devices including PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones.
Android and iOS dedicated apps are also available, and Vision can be used through any current Chromium-based browser.
From the comfort of their own residence, an elderly patient supported by a familiar staff member can use Vision to meet virtually with multiple participants in a secure telehealth video conference.
All it takes is the touch of a button to initiate a virtual meeting.
Vision also has built-in clinical functionality to securely collect, view, and share a range of patient health metrics in real-time including blood pressure, ECG, temperature, pulse oximetry, blood glucose, and weight.
Featuring new bandwidth-optimising technology that delivers diagnostic-quality video and audio, as well as high-speed data transmission and end-to-end encryption, Vision is suitable for all aged care health settings that require collaborative, evidence-based decision making.
Virtual meetings are easy to schedule with Vision’s waiting-room function.
The platform can be customised and scaled to suit organisational needs and integrated with a practice management calendar.
Available on a monthly or annual subscription, Vision’s unique software and collaborative clinical tools can be used on internet-connected devices to conduct remote, and secure medical consultations between multiple participants.
Vision can also integrate with an organisation’s electronic health record system for the secure transmission, storage and sharing of all patient data.
Vision + ProEX – a telemedicine software and hardware solution for aged care
Vision can be teamed with our ProEX telehealth hardware system and its suite of approved medical devices, transforming a telehealth video conference into a clinical medical examination.
Our ProEX range includes the desktop ProEX Telehealth Hub and a portable, ruggedised tablet version, the ProEX Mobile.
ProEX integrated medical devices include ultrasound, stethoscope, endoscope, otoscope, pulse oximeter, ECG, thermometer, blood pressure monitor, weighing scales, and a GEIS® General Examination Camera HD.
When teamed together, the Vision + ProEX telehealth solution can be used for general imaging; wound management; dental examinations; ear, nose, and throat examinations; ophthalmology; dermatology, mental health; speech pathology, along with many other patient observations via Bluetooth and USB-connected devices.
All Visionflex products are IEC 60601 compliant, making them suitable for clinical medical assessments. Visionflex is also certified ISO 13485 2016 for the manufacture of non-sterile image capture and data storage systems for medical devices.
The Vision platform incorporates another piece of revolutionary Visionflex technology:
This world-first digital stethoscope application transmits stethoscope audio digitally without any loss of quality. It provides the physician at the far end with complete control of volume, gain, and audio filter settings of a digital stethoscope being used to listen to a remote patient’s heart, lung, and body sounds.
TrueSteth’s diagnostic-quality audio and visual display can be shared in real-time during video consultations.
Vision’s other innovative and unique collaborative clinical functions include:
Multiple participants can simultaneously activate and switch between numerous video cameras such as a GEIS® General Examination Camera HD or a dental camera, providing access to live clinical footage on screen in large 16:9 video windows.
Integrate remote clinical examinations during a video conference with the far-end doctor guiding the process and receiving real-time, on-screen patient data including blood pressure, ECG, temperature, pulse oximetry, blood glucose, and weight.
Remotely view and control IP- and USB-based pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) ceiling and room cameras for a clear view of the patient to add context and detail during clinical examinations.
Capture and instantly share multiple clinical images during video consultations. Data can be automatically stored on the local PC.
In real-time, video conference participants can annotate shared clinical images and PDF documents on screen for live discussion and collaboration. Files can be stored on the local PC.
Connections are possible via broadband internet, 4G mobile, and satellite. The system can be geo-fenced ensuring patient data is transmitted securely.
Our ProEX telehealth hardware solution
Vision joins our range of telehealth solutions that includes our ProEX system of telehealth hardware.
The ProEX uses high-speed, live, HD video conferencing capabilities, and end-to-end encryption to securely connect multiple participants in a real-time video consultation. Its powerful software delivers world-class sound and vision, and it can connect with participants on any PC via a local network, WiFi, and the internet.
While most traditional video conferencing platforms have no clinical functionality, the ProEX system supports a suite of approved medical examination devices (both digital and analogue), revolutionising the way that a physician or nurse can examine, diagnose, monitor, and treat remote patients.
Using the ProEX, vital patient health data can be collected and viewed live on screen, and it can be shared, recorded, and saved to an electronic health record system for future reference or review.
The system’s store-and-forward capabilities provide added flexibility for telehealth settings that require travel to visit elderly patients. All patient data is encrypted to comply with HIPAA requirements.
The ProEX system has an easy-to-use address book function and emails can be sent to invite a remote participant into a virtual meeting room. Scheduled video calls can be set up in advance, with pop-up reminders.
Depending on your aged care setting, the ProEX system is available in a variety of configurations
- The ProEX Telehealth Hub is suited to residential aged care facilities. It can be teamed with a Telehealth Cart for situations where equipment needs to be easily moved from room to room.
- The ProEX Mobile is a portable, rugged tablet device suitable for conducting medical examinations during field and home visits, as well as medical rounds in rural and remote locations.
- The Telehealth Cabinet with ProEX Telehealth Hub is perfect for settings with limited space or in remote areas where secure storage is required.
- The Backpack Kit with ProEX Mobile is easily transported to remote and rural areas and home visits, and it can be configured with medical peripherals to suit your needs.
Multiple ProEX units can be easily programmed to communicate securely with each other and share information in a customised network.
The ProEX Telehealth Hub and ProEX Mobile are designed for ease of use, with a minimal number of buttons and controls, and intuitive on-screen functions. Featuring a large HD screen, the ProEX units are a pleasure to use.
The ProEX units have multiple ports for optimum connectivity including HDMI, USB, DVI, CVBS and S-Video inputs, as well as LAN, Bluetooth, and WiFi capability.
Visionflex – designed to deliver elderly care.
Visionflex, a leader in telehealth technology, was formed by two Australian engineers with the simple goal of making world-class healthcare accessible to everyone, everywhere.
To learn more about the Vision and ProEX telehealth software/hardware solutions, click below to book a demonstration today.
