Last May, we completed the implementation of the Software Equipe in the Residencia Santa Paola de Toledo. After 4 months using the software at full capacity to manage all the daily processes of the residence, we have spoken with Laura Cano, the director of the centre, to share her experience in what digitizing the centre has meant for the team and for the improvement in the quality of the services provided in Santa Paola.
1. Tell us about the center and the aspects you would highlight. What were the beginnings and how has Santa Paola evolved to this day?
Since November 2014, the new ownership of the centre has been committed to not being a residence. Administratively, it is, but its way of conceiving the care and attention to the people who live in Santa Paola (elderly people, families and professionals) is far from the classic institutional model. From the beginning, Santa Paola is intended to be a place where professionals accompany people in his Life project, knowing the Life Story of these, their needs and preferences, and encouraging their participation in decision-making that affects them.
Santa Paola will advance the journey of comprehensive, person-cantered care by achieving much of its goals in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hits. This pandemic tested the strength of Santa Paola, with important changes in professionals, and even today the strategies that were decided once normality returned are still in place.
2. Why did you decide to implement a Management Software in the residence?
Precisely one of the strategies that is being implemented is the search for software that would make the management of the information of the people who live in Santa Paola more efficient. We were looking for a tool that would put The person at the centre and so we found Equipe, which in a very intuitive and agile way allows us to manage the information that is generated from each person. It is not only a matter of eliminating paper or reducing the times in the dump of records, but of work to make the information really useful for the day-to-day life of people and professionals.
3. In decree 2/2022, which establishes the basic conditions of Specialised Social Care Service Centres for the elderly in Castilla-La Mancha, specifies that the centres must have a Management System in Electronic Format or Computer Application. Do you think that there are many residential and non-residential centres in Castilla-La Mancha that still do not have a computer solution?
We do not have much information about it, but we do know that the solutions on the market cannot always be economically assumed by small centres and that the most well-known computer programs do not fit what we are looking for. We understand that the Inspectorate seeks to record everything they consider important based on their inspection protocols, but this is still far from what is really important for people and their families.
4. If in the previous answer you think that there are many Schools that have not yet implemented Management Software, why do you think it is difficult for them to make the decision?
There are three main prejudices. Assuming that it is expensive, that it is difficult to manage and that it does not add value are, without a doubt, the three factors that slow down the decision.
5. Why did you choose Equipe to digitise Santa Paola’s work processes?
Mainly, because it covers what we need in terms of what the computer program itself is. This fit our needs. But in addition, the way of talking to this company was decisive. They understand the person-centred care model, they carry it in their DNA like us, and that was, as I say, the final complement to the decision-making. We looked for them, it was not from a commercial visit or an advertisement. That person-centered understanding continues today, there are no complex technical expressions or barriers for us. It is an intuitive program, but this has a lot to do with the fact that Equipe and Santa Paola speak the same language and they pursue the same thing: to make it easier for professionals to accompany, attend and care for people and their families based on their needs and with their participation.
6. How has the experience of implementing and using the program been so far? Have there been any obstacles or difficulties during the process?
If you know how to use a mobile phone or tablet, you have no difficulty using it. Professionals see it as a ally and that makes it easier for them to use it well. All professionals receive training and once it is up and running you always have support from Equipe for doubts or unforeseen events. They have it very well worked to facilitate the day-to-day life of Santa Paola.
7. How has the adaptation of your work processes been carried out at Equipe?
From Equipe an analysis was made of the day-to-day life of Santa Paola and the new needs we had to improve several things. Really it has been Equipe that has adapted to our needs more than we have to the functionalities of the Software. What is asked for is given to you. They work in a very agile way.
8. How has the training of staff been carried out to use the software effectively? Has it been difficult to get used to using it?
As I said before, there is continuous training and support for doubts, unforeseen events and lines of improvement. It is a software designed for this, for Be a facilitator, not to simply be a dump and data logging system for inspection.
9. What benefits or improvements are expected to be obtained in the short and long term with the use of Equipe?
The main thing is that it contributes to improve the quality of life of individuals and their families making it easier for the information that is introduced to be manageable by professionals and facilitating decision-making and the performance of their work. Recording data is not the end in itself, but the first step to getting to know people and their needs well. Surely new software needs will arise and they will surely be implemented as well as they have been until now.
10. You have been using Equipe for more than two months now, what is the level of satisfaction in general?
From management I can speak on behalf of the whole team are very satisfied because we have been able to design an ally formidable that helps us work better.
11. You are a pioneer in the application of the AICP (Person-Centred Comprehensive Care) model, do you think that Equipe adapts to the demands of the model? To what extent does Equipe, as professionals at the centre, help you to promote the necessary conditions to achieve improvements in all areas of the quality of life and well-being of the person?
I have already been saying it in this interview. We look for them with the letter of the Three Wise Men under our arms and we find a team that speaks our language, that of the MAICP, and that each request has been made their own to give us a work tool that fits with what Santa Paola needs to continue on the journey of applying the Comprehensive and Person-Centered Care Model.