Vancouver, BC, January 18, 2010
For the Greater Vancouver Community Services Society's 300 community health workers and nurses, the implementation of TELUS MobileCare is a welcome solution to the time-consuming, paper-driven process currently in place to manage administrative activities.
Beginning this month, field employees will receive a BlackBerry device equipped with the TELUS MobileCare application, allowing them to perform tasks in the field that used to require a trip to their office. The application gives them instant access to their patient care plans, real-time schedule changes, and the ability to input any feedback, updates or information from their home visit directly into the patient's electronic record. The system will also improve patient care by immediately providing workers with any medication alerts or updates to a patient's care plan.
The system will also cut down on the time spent traveling between patients and allow for faster response in any emergency. GPS capabilities enable mileage tracking and provide optimal driving directions and can also note the location of each employee in case of emergency so headquarters can quickly determine who they should dispatch to the urgent call. Client billing and employee payroll will also be streamlined by enabling community health staff to enter appointment arrival and departure times electronically into their device, eliminating the need to fill in time-consuming forms.
"With our healthcare system facing a number of challenges from an aging population, increased chronic disease and reduced access to clinicians we are seeing the adoption of new care models that allow a patient to stay in their home and still receive quality care," said Marc Filion, chief operating officer and general manager, TELUS Health Solutions. "We are delighted that the GVCSS has chosen us to help them automate and streamline their business in order to increase productivity, serve clients more efficiently and ultimately improve patient care."
Since 1971, GVCSS has provided a wide range of home care support in Metro Vancouver, allowing seniors and British Columbians with physical and mental challenges enjoy greater independence and quality of life in their own homes, while providing much needed respite to the family and friends that care for them.
TELUS MobileCare is based on the CellTrak mobile homecare solution and is the result of a partnership announced in October where TELUS is the exclusive distributor of CellTrak in Canada.
About TELUS Health:
TELUS Health Solutions represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry. TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit www.telushealth.com.