IT companies generally do not focus on building systems for the medical industry. Speer Management Services has taken its Specialised Plus product and developed a system specifically geared towards managing the prescription and stock levels of medicine in old age homes. This product, called Medicine Administration System or MAS, is the way forward for this industry.
Speer were recently employed by PADCA (Pietermaritzburg and District Council for the Aged) to implement MAS at the two frail care facilities, Sunnyside and Riverside Park Homes in Pietermaritzburg.
Sunnyside Old Age Home was started 35 years ago. With 178 residents and 100 of those needing medication administered, it is one of the largest old age homes in KwaZulu-Natal. Riverside was opened in 1989 and also has 100 residents needing medication. The primary problem for both homes was that of poor stock control, where re-ordering was a major concern, followed by monitoring of prescription medication, and continuity in administrative systems.
"We have to say that MAS has given us far better control in all aspects of medicine administration within the old age homes. The accuracy of medicine levels is tremendous. Management of paper prescriptions has become much easier than in the past too. MAS has realigned and streamlined the thinking of every user on the system, making us far more efficient, and more coherent as a team.
Another benefit was that we have proof of control for any medicine-related audits, everything is on the system. We really do have peace of mind with MAS in place," says an extremely happy Hillary Mumford, manager of the Sunnyside Old Age Home. These sentiments are fully endorsed by Tracy Bruwer, Manager of Riverside Park Home.
The two homes went live with MAS on 8 January 2003. The implementation, which included full software training, was finished in two days. A benefit of the product is that it can be loaded into different wings of the home by the primary user, in most cases the manager. Four months later, and both homes have all four wings running MAS, with a perfect record of prescription levels, and faultless stock control.
PADCA chose to use Speer, and their specialised product, because they were able to address very pertinent issues that happen to be generic within old age homes. The issue of stock control and prescription monitoring was immediately addressed by MAS, and managed perfectly from the start.
"The software is incredibly easy to understand and to operate. From an IT perspective, this is a much neglected industry where potential users are not computer-oriented. The ease-of-use of the MAS software is a major benefit for any old age home," says Johan Strydom, Solutions Director of Speer.
Another major benefit that has come out of the implementation is that existing staff now have far more time to concentrate on their patients. The resources within the home are better utilised because of this, and money is saved. Added to this, the regular early warning system in MAS controls the stock and prescription levels, and saves money by eradicating any over-ordering.
"Speer is dedicated to delivering total business solutions, and tailoring them around our clients needs. Since our first implementation five years ago we have had excellent feedback," says Jaco Strydom, Managing Director of Speer.
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