Bristol Pavilion
Waverly, Ohio

Background
Bristol Pavilion in Waverly, Ohio is one of four National Church Residence skilled facilities. In addition to the 50-bed skilled
facility, the campus consists of assisted living and Independent living units.

Challenge
Prior to July 2002, Bristol Pavilion used paper flow sheets to record assessment information. Like many facilities, they found that this form of documentation made it difficult to get consistent and accurate data. “Staff tended to copy from shift to shift so we got a lot of inaccurate assessments which turned into potentially inaccurate care plans”, recalls Jerri Meadows, MDS Coordinator.

To attempt to counteract this problem, Jerri spent a considerable amount of time interviewing the staff to understand the resident’s real condition. Not only did she find this to be time-consuming but also it was difficult getting in contact with the night staff.

When Bristol Pavilion began considering CareTracker, there was some fear on the part of the staff members about using a computer and changing the way things were done.

Solution
During the initial weeks of CareTracker, nursing managers asked questions to the staff and reinforced the idea that using the system was important. Jerri explains, “I helped them see that the documentation helps improve the care to their residents. Within a few weeks, we began getting very good compliance and the majority of the staff was very excited about it.”

Now Jerri spends almost much less time interviewing staff because she can rely on the information coming from CareTracker. That gives me more time to focus on getting the assessments and getting them more accurate.

Results
Because of the accuracy they get from CareTracker, the facility has experienced a dramatic increase in its case mix score. Prior to CareTracker, the CMI was 1.77. Six months later it was 1.97. “CareTracker played a big part in that increase,” explained Jerri. “In addition to ADLs, the big factor was our improvement in tracking mood and behavior issues.”

At Bristol Pavilion, the CareTracker kiosks are not only for the nursing assistants. All staff including licensed staff and therapy department record assessments. Soon, the housekeepers, dieticians, and other staff members will be trained to make assessments soon.

CareTracker is being used for just about everything including ADLs, mood/behavior, vitals, meal intake, bowel/bladder, restorative, and activities. Corey Sammons, the ADON, explains, “As far as quality assurance goes it eliminates having to go up and down the hall pulling flow sheets. Now I can just go in the program and get an idea of what’s going on. I don’t have to spend an hour and half reviewing flow sheets.“

From a staffing perspective, management has found the system to be very helpful as well. “It gives our staff a better understanding of the whole process. When they can see that what they are doing is making an impact on resident care then that’s providing a self-esteem benefit for them as well”, concluded Jerri.