Conducting healthcare audits is an essential means of comparing current Infection Prevention and Control practices against quality standards and other benchmarks. Audits can help improve healthcare services as a systematic and blame-free mechanism for healthcare professionals to assess, evaluate and implement changes.
Historically, however, auditing has been a slow, cumbersome, paper-based process requiring huge manual effort from frontline staff. This often results in QI (Quality Improvement) fatigue and increasing levels of burnout amongst staff.
Why Choose a Digital Auditing Tool for Infection Prevention and Control Teams?
Healthcare audit management software can help change this and transform a culture of compliance into one of quality improvement from bedside to board-level. A digital auditing tool simplifies healthcare quality by digitising, automating and managing your workflows from one central place.
How To Choose The Best Healthcare Audit Tool
With so many healthcare compliance tools available though, how do you know which software is the best fit for you and your IPC team? Here are 11 questions you need to consider when searching for healthcare auditing software:
1. Is it scalable?
How easy is it to increase or decrease the software’s functionality (and associated costs) based on the level of demand in your healthcare facility? It’s also important to note whether the audit management system is one standalone module which forms part of a larger quality management system. If you get the budget to upgrade another system next quarter, you want to avoid having to add another tool to the list if you can.
2. How many people need access?
Some audit software companies charge per user which may become an issue as your team grows or if you decide to rapidly scale up as often happens when the budget becomes available. Instead, try to find a healthcare auditing tool with an annual software licence based on the size of the roll out e.g. the number of sites and beds supported.
3. Is it mobile-friendly?
Think about who is going to work with this software day-to-day. The majority of your end-users will more than likely be conducting audits on-the-go making the rounds. Make sure the healthcare auditing software is mobile-friendly and available on all platforms so that you can get set up on whatever technology you have right now.
4. Is it user-friendly?
Are your end users tech-savvy or unfamiliar with different types of software? If a range of people are going to be using the digital auditing platform, the user-interface needs to be simple. Choosing a tool specifically designed for healthcare auditing is underestimated but these are built specially with healthcare workers and their busy environments in mind. Data entry and user experience is intuitive, quick and easy-to-navigate, encouraging a smooth transition to the new software.
5. Will you have support?
A well-designed audit will logically walk users through the digital forms step-by-step so minimal or often no training is even required. Occasionally however, problems do arise, and you will need access to help documentation and a support team with a fast response. If a platform’s support appears time-consuming, it may be best to keep looking and consider smaller providers who offer quicker response times and self-help guides as a solution.
6. Can it be used offline?
If your facility or ward tends to have spotty wifi access, as many do, then the ability to still collect data when there’s poor connectivity or you’re offline is critical. Just imagine the frustration of having finally completed 20 PVC audits in a row and realising the data was lost when you hit upload. It’s a simple point but one that will save you a lot of stress in the long run!
7. Is it secure?
Healthcare organisations must comply with stringent data security and privacy regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR in safeguarding sensitive information. Your software provider should conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment and provide a Data Protection Agreement to guarantee data security. Security features to look for in audit management software are cloud-based systems, which provide automatic updates, regular backups and encryption, and varying levels of user access which authorises access to information as and when required.
8. Is it configurable?
The ability to customise and edit question sets, user access and reporting rules cannot be understated. Most providers offer an audit library with standard templates and customer support takes care of setup and maintenance while some give you the power to create audits, make changes and manage the system too. Recreating your current workflow exactly on a new digital auditing system can help facilitate a positive switch from paper to digital healthcare auditing.
9. Is it interoperable?
Your healthcare facility more than likely uses other systems site-wide such as Active Directory, EHRs (Electronic Healthcare Records) and Business Intelligence Tools so you will need a digital auditing tool that can integrate with these. Ask whether the healthcare audit system has a documented API. This will allow it to integrate with other hospital systems, adding functionality to the tool. Users will be able to opt for a single sign-on and save time as the system pulls all relevant details when criteria such as an MRN is input.
10. Can you close the loop?
Quality Improvement Planning is a key feature of digital auditing systems for healthcare teams who are already overburdened. With the right digital healthcare audit tool you can schedule audits in advance and set reminders for the appropriate staff member to prevent oversight. If issues are detected you should be able to escalate it immediately to senior management who can then assign corrective actions and track progress all in the one place.
11. Is the data meaningful?
If the reporting and analytics provided are either too complex to understand or not detailed enough then there is little point in any of the above. Information captured and not analysed is effectively just being stored and becomes dark data. You need a user-friendly, configurable reporting dashboard in order to draw out your unique insights and easily share them with your team.
Conclusion
It may seem like a daunting task at first but when you ask the right questions you can quickly narrow down the search for a digital healthcare auditing tool. Use this guide during product demos to ask questions and wherever possible sign up for a free trial to see the answers for yourself. The perfect healthcare compliance audit software is waiting for your IPC team and with the right approach, you’ll find it in no time!
Learn from other IPC teams
Listen to Sandi Gamon, Quality Lead and IPC CNS at Waitemata DHB, speak about the steps she took to select a digital auditing healthcare tool for her team in this free, on-demand webinar.
MEG is a digital quality management system for healthcare. Its suite of configurable mobile and cloud-based tools can be used on any device by frontline workers to capture audits, incidents, risk assessments, and access information anytime right at the point of care.