William and Sally Tandet
Stamford, Connecticut

Background
The William and Sally Tandet Center for Continuing Care is a 130-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility dedicated
to providing active treatment and rehabilitation for individuals who have been disabled by an acute illness or are experiencing health problems associated with the aging process. The Tandet Center provides several different programs designed to meet the needs of their residents – subacute care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and long term care.

Challenge
William & Sally Tandet Center is a busy facility. In 2003 over 500 patients were discharged from the center. Using paper forms to record assessment information and observations for each patient was a challenge. The large amount of documentation required for each patient made it difficult for staff to complete the forms accurately. Because of the high patient turnover, flow sheets were sometimes getting filled out for patients that were no longer in the center.

Solution
Wes Bard, Finance Director at Tandet, learned about Resource Systems’ CareTracker during the implementation of another Resource Systems product that they purchased for therapy tracking.

CareTracker was implemented in October 2003. At that time, staff started using the system to track activities of daily living, bowel and bladder, and weights, but after a couple of months, the CNA’s pushed to expand their use of the system. They felt it was too much work to use paper forms to track some areas and CareTracker for others.

Results
“One of the biggest benefits of CareTracker is that you will get almost 100 percent of your documentation, personalized for what each CNA does with the patient because there is no copying or misplaced paper documents”, explains Irene Morris, Director of Nursing at William & Sally.

Irene also believes the system has had a positive impact for the center with regard to staffing. CNA’s like having the technology as a tool and believe it is something that sets their center apart from others. One CNA said, “I will never even think of going back to paper. It’s a very good system and I love it.”

Irene and Wes have been sharing their CareTracker success with their professional affiliations. Irene spoke recently at a breakfast at the J.M. Wright Regional Vocational Technical School and mentioned CareTracker. Students in Wright’s certified nurse assistant program are able to visit the William & Sally Center to learn about CareTracker as part of their education.

Irene is also a member of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Connecticut Alliance for Long Term Care, which has representatives from 26 of the top sub-acute care facilities in CT. She will be making a presentation to the committee about CareTracker and how the system can improve quality of care.

Wes will also be discussing CareTracker as part of a presentation he is giving in a graduate course on leadership in long term care.