Home care IT

Bayshore awarded funds to test tablet PCs in home care

MISSISSAUGA, Ont – Bayshore Home Health has been awarded funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to participate in a pilot project that will provide 60 computer tablets to its nurses who are delivering care to clients of the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

“Our goal is to increase trans-disciplinary team member utilization of a common body of knowledge and information resources to improve client outcomes,” says Holly Quinn (pictured), Bayshore Home Health’s Chief Nursing Officer. “We also wish to enhance understanding of the best information resources to be matched to the client.”

The computer tablets are a key part of the ministry’s Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Initiative that involves providing PDAs with evidence-based practice resources to frontline nursing staff to improve access and integration of evidence at the bedside.

Anticipated outcomes of the project include increased support for evidence-based practice, improved patient outcomes and enhanced quality of life for nurses. Bayshore Home Health was also selected as one of the pilot project participants that will work with the ministry to evaluate the project.

Bayshore Home Health’s Barrie branch, which provides nursing services to the North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN, will partner with the Couchiching Family Health Team to implement the project. The initiative will enhance communications between the two organizations, as well as their ability to access health information resources.

The Couchiching Family Health Team operates in four locations in the Orillia community. It consists of 15 family physicians and other health professionals who deliver care to about 18,000 patients.

“This initiative will accelerate Bayshore’s implementation of the ministry’s Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (HOBIC) project and support the provision of quality care to clients through our outcome-based clinical practice program,” Quinn says.

Bayshore Home Health applied to participate in the project because it recognizes the challenges that nurses working in rural and remote areas across the province face, as they often have limited access to clinical information resources and decision support for evidence-based care planning.

Bayshore Home Health’s President Stuart Cottrelle believes that the computer tablets could serve as a means to increase nurse retention, which is an issue across Canada’s heathcare sector. “We hope the PDAs will support nurses in their practice and enhance their quality of work-life,” he says. “If this leads to greater job satisfaction, then improved retention could result.”

About Bayshore Home Health
Bayshore Home Health has been enhancing the quality of life, dignity and independence of Canadians in their homes since 1966. According to the company, it is the country’s largest provider of home and community health care services, with more than 40 homecare offices, 20 community clinics and 7,000 employees. Its core services are in-home nursing, personal care and home support – which can be purchased directly by individuals as well as accessed through government care programs, personal and group insurance plans and workplace safety insurance. Its other services include nurse and caregiver staffing, pharmaceutical support services, health education programs, infusion clinics and dialysis centres. Bayshore Home Health has been a winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies award since 2006.