Australian Aged Care Technology on Twitter

Australian Aged Care and Technology is alive and well on Twitter, and we'd love to have you onboard!

Help us build the community - tweet '#agedcareaus'

If you're tweeting about Aged Care in Australia, append the '#agedcareaus' hashtag to your posts (like below).

This helps connect you with others in the industry - Nurses, Carers, CIOs, CEOs, Technology Vendors - whoever you're most interested in.

Smart people to follow

We've started building lists of interesting people to follow in Aged Care and technology:

@itinformer/aged-care-insights

List of Aged Care thought-leaders, professionals and other stakeholders

@itinformer/aged-care-vendors 

List of companies delivering technology-related products and services for Aged Care

 @itinformer/tech-events

List of technology events relevant to Aged Care in Australia

If you'd like to be added to any of these, or think we should add more lists, hit us up at @itinformer, or in comments below.

Follow us and we'll follow you

Follow @itinformer for breaking news, insight and discussion. And please, if you're in Aged Care, technology, or anything our readers might find useful, post your details in comments below.

Smart Aged Care Tech group wrap-up

Some awesome discussion happening on IT:informer's Smart Aged Care Technology Group, which just ticked over 50 members - a mix of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, Nurses, Carers, Vendors, Entrepreneurs and more.

Top discussion topics

• Top 3 pieces of advice for implementing software by Mark Barnett (45 comments)
• What do you think about EMM? by Mark Barnett (18 comments)
• Social media and Aged Care by Mark Barnett (14 comments)

Hot new threads

• Government in Aged Care - who needs them? by Sonja Bernhardt
• Wii and computer games of value for facilities? by Sonja Bernhardt

Stay in touch!

Follow us and join the discussion via the IT:informer Twitterstream, this blog and the Smart Aged Care Technology group, as we approach the launch of itinformer.com.au at the end of Feb!

Does Aged Care need Government?

Imagine there's no government. It's easy if you try...

These days everyone assumes that if anybody does anything, the government has to be involved - regulating it, accrediting it, and ultimately running it.

But step back and think - why? How many people in government have run an Aged Care facility (or any business at all)? How many of them have any real understanding of the issues? How many bureaucrats or politicians who claim the wisdom to run entire industries, would you trust to run a corner store?

There are two theories of government:

1. That it exists to protect the rights of citizens to live their lives as they see fit; or 
2. That it exists to tell people how to live, what decisions to make, and to enforce the wishes of some on everybody else

These days, nearly everybody acts as if the latter is self-evidently how things have to be. But all that leads to is increasing regulations, paperwork and transfer of control from private individuals and private choice to government orders.

Why can't industry groups develop their own voluntary standards - and individual businesses choose their own standards - and the people who want to use their services be the ones to judge and choose?

The only people who would lose are those who want the power to command other peoples' lives and choices.

Imagine that....

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Meet the author - Sonja Bernhardt

Sonja Bernhardt is a true who's who of Australian ICT, and the first Australian inducted into the Hall of Fame for Women in Technology.

Blogger profile - Sonja Bernhardt

As we approach the launch of www.itinformer.com.au, we'd like to introduce you to each of our bloggers - today, meet Sonja Bernhardt.

Sonja Bernhardt, Blogger
CEO of award-winning software development house, ThoughtWare, Sonja is a serial entrepreneur, Founder of WIT, Co-Founder of AWISE, and one of Australia’s highest profile women in IT.



"An entrepreneur is someone who gets up one more time than they get hit down."

Follow Sonja on the web
LinkedIn: www.au.linkedin.com/pub/sonja-bernhardt/0/140/28
Twitter: @sonjabern

Blog with us
If you're interested in blogging for us or contributing somehow, contact us - we'd love to hear from you.

Operations research in Aged Care

Operations Research (OR) basically means using science (mathematical modeling, statistics, optimisation algorithms etc) to make better business decisions - and it's got serious application in Aged Care.

More science, less gut

Lots of small day-to-day decisions being made on gut instinct? Too many decision factors? Important information is not being factored in? Need to reduce cost? OR might just be the answer you're looking for.

Cost reduction, forecasting, scheduling, planning, routing, pricing, recovery, throughput - these are all areas where OR can make businesses work better.

You be the judge

According to Joe Forbes and Ash Nelson - co-founders of OR specialist Barri - business efficiency is the outcome of well-applied operational research.

Read the full article, and Joe Forbes's intriguing look at Operational Research in January's IT:informer.

Blogger profile - Adam Holcroft

We'd like to introduce you to one of IT:informer's newest bloggers - Adam Holcroft.

Adam Holcroft, Blogger
Adam is General Manager of QPS Benchmarking - leading providers in Australia and New Zealand, with specialisation in health and aged care management. He is also a web consultant, blogger and entrepreneur.


Follow Adam on the web:
LinkedIn: www.au.linkedin.com/in/adamholcroft
Twitter: @adamholcroft

Getting software implemention right in Aged Care

More great dialogue from IT:informer's Smart Aged Care Technology group - this time on how to successfully implement software in Aged Care.

"Usually in project management it is because people think the tools are the answer instead of the tools being simply the tools."- Walter Adamson, CEO, NewleaseG2M

"It's important to celebrate successful milestones and not stress out when things go wrong, because they always will - if you complete the initial [planning] steps correctly then the speed humps along the way won't be so painful." - Adam Holcroft, General Manager, QPS Benchmarking

"COMMUNICATION closely followed by Change Management are the make or break implementation success factors." - Sonia Bernhardt, CEO, ThoughtWare

"Often people forget to think about what happens after implementation such as support costs and...what the vendor is responsible for in terms of future support." - Adam Holcroft

"Managing expectations on both sides is a key success factor to be examined and reviewed up front in a project." - Walter Adamson

Join the discussion at Smart Aged Care Technology or the IT:informer Twitterstream.

Some great discussion on EMM

If you've checked out the Smart Aged Care Technology group on LinkedIn lately, you'd have seen a lot of discussion on EMM, and the issues surrounding its implementation in Australian Aged Care.

ThoughtWare CEO, Sonia Bernhardt pointed out the need to ensure that decisions made in EMM  are not over-prescriptive, and don't stifle innovation:

"New technologies appear on average every 90 days so we need to make sure the market is dynamic enough to take advantage of that."

"Let's hope it's a quick debate because time equals healthcare dollars." - Mark Barnett, Editor, IT:informer.

And in response to who should set EMM standards and drive innovation...

"I think the private market SHOULD be the standard setter NOT government bodies that are at the whim of politics and elections and are also notoriously SLOW decision makers. " - Sonia Bernhardt

"I agree the solution should be and will in all probably be private sector." - Hazel Jennings, ICT Manager, Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind

"Some agedcare and homecare organisations (at least here in australia), want a local company" - Neville Bradbury, Owner, OpenSoft Australia

Looking forward to unearthing more insights via the Smart Aged Technology Group, and don't forget the IT:informer twitterstream - we love hearing what you have to say.

Blogger profile - Walter Adamson

IT:informer is all about bringing smart, passionate minds together for lively discussion on aged care, technology and digital strategy.

Between now and launch day, we'll be introducing you to our team of A-list bloggers. Featured today is Walter Adamson.

Walter Adamson, Blogger
CEO of digital engagement agency NewleaseG2M, which advises Software as a Service companies on their business strategy, and also exclusive partner of the Social Media Academy in Australia, which specialises in social media training for managers and consultants. Walter is an expert in social media, technology start-ups and emergent business models. 

Follow Walter on the web:
NewLeaseG2M: www.newleaseg2m.com  
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adamson 
Twitter: @g2m 
Web profile: www.xeesm.com/walter

Blog with us
If you're interested in blogging for us or contributing somehow, contact us - we'd love to hear from you.

Can technology adoption enable better mental health?

Yes it can. We know that an active brain resists the onset of Dementia and Alzheimers, and brings a heap of other benefits to patients - at a small cost to your organisation. Here's a few tips on getting IT working for you at your aged care facility:

Create a computer room

Residents can use it for connecting with their family, learning new skills and keeping up to date with the latest around the world. The Federal Government has provided an initiative for the provision of a minimum of two computers and an Internet connection per aged care facility.

Introduce new basic computer skills courses

Just simple things like how to use a computer to email, write letters, watch YouTube, surf the web and use social networking sites. Outcomes for residents can only be positive.

Prepare for Baby Boomers

Studies suggest that Baby Boomers will be more demanding than previous cohorts. The idea that elderly don’t get technology is quickly becoming irrelevant. This group has largely adopted technology in most aspects of their lives - they'll expect facilities to enable them to continue their connection with the web.

It's affordable

If you haven’t already heard, The Broadband for seniors initiative can provide at a minimum two computers, an Internet connection and training for seniors - a maximum of value of $10,000 per location.  

Or, you may have the resources in house to build your own kiosks. For as little as $600 per desktop computer you would be well on your way to developing a suitably-resourced computer room.

Speaking for the nurses and carers

IT has been used in aged care for decades. And with good reason - paper files are archaic, time consuming and dangerous. So why is implementing documentation management systems in aged care facilities typically such a headache?

According to Dianne Bayliss (RN and Nurse Educator at Questek) it's got a lot to do with management a) misunderstanding the computer literacy and needs of their care staff and b) rushing for immediate ROI on costly IT outlays.

The user adoption issue

A common carer response is simply to avoid all the stress and embarrassment that comes with learning something new. And that's understandable. Many are in their 50's and 60's, don't speak perfect English, feel they're too busy to learn new programs, don't have a computer at home, are accustomed to paper-based systems...the list goes on.

So even though studies show they're generally positive about IT in aged care, there is considerable trepidation when it's introduced to their own workplace.

Big initial outlay. No follow-up spend.

In light of the above, clearly it's unrealistic to cut corners on equipment spend and to not employ more staff during the transitional period, or at least to provide on the job education, support and encouragement.

Read the full story, together with Dianne's insights and solutions in January's IT:informer.

Fast-tracking health reform through e-health

Following a limited response at COAG to eHealth, the Coalition for eHealth Australia (CHA) has written to the Prime Minister urgently requesting a 'fast-tracking of health reform through e-health'. CHA's suggested approach is to resource and implement the National E-Health Strategy as a matter of urgency.

The letter touched on four key themes already identified in the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commissioner's report:

1. Taking responsibility - Better consumer information, assisting patients and their families, supporting use of personal health records etc

2. Connecting care - Secure, effective and efficient sharing / dissemination of clinical histories, care giver referrals, prescriptions, medications etc

3. Facing inequalities - Faster, more effective identification of gaps and reallocation of resources and services

4. Driving quality performance - Infrastructure for real-time performance review and analysis

Full report in January's IT:informer.

'Smart Aged Care Tech' group on LinkedIn

Today we launched the Smart Aged Care Technology group on LinkedIn - a place for of aged care technology news, insight and discussion.

Technology vendors, aged care professionals, IT professionals, in-home carers - whoever you are, this is your platform for speaking your mind, asking questions and finding out.

Looking forward to some great discussion!

5 social media trends for 2010

Social media specialist, founder of the Social Media Academy, and CEO and founder of Xeequa, Axel Schultze has some interesting predictions for 2010 - here's a rundown:

Trend #1: Sales will gradually move from telesales to social sales
The new sales order is to socialise with as many people as you can, be helpful, make introductions and to pleasantly guide prospects in their quest for finding the best solution.

Trend #2: Product launches will be more and more in the social web
Product Managers are closer to top customers, influencers, opinion leaders bloggers and market lunimaries than ever before. These advocate relationships are increasingly critical to successful product launches.

Trend #3: Marketing will no longer do "social media campaigns" but support a cross-functional engagement
The new social media marketing job description is not to run a Facebook fan page but to support all departments in their own social media engagement.

Trend #4: Businesses will establish new means of service and support 
Support centres are no longer hard to reach and under-staffed islands. Harnessing the wisdom of the crowds through social media allows for a much more efficient and effective support structure.

Trend #5: Communication and networking skills will rank second only to subject matter expertise when hiring people 
Being socially-engaged, open, approachable and a proactive communicator is a set of skills that will dominate the hiring process in the next few years. This is because every employee is in some way or another part of the new customer experience model.

For Axel's full article, see January's edition of the IT:informer.