Salvation Army Aged Care Plus

Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1 and CF-H1 bring innovative design, exceptional performance, durability and mobility to busy care personnel.

The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus has deployed 16 Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1 convertible tablet PCs and 13 Toughbook CF-H1 Mobile Clinical Assistants (MCA) across two facilities, with plans to deploy both models across all Aged Care Plus facilities.

The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus delivers care to the community through a wide network of services including independent living units, low and high care facilities and community care packages, coordinating approximately 1,400 residents and 1100 care and clinical staff at over 17 sites across New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

Mr Mahfuz Matin, IT Systems Manager for The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus, launched a trial of both the Panasonic Toughbook C1 and H1 at one New South Wales facility and one Queensland facility before moving forward with the procurement of both Toughbook models after receiving positive feedback from staff.

Mr Matin said that the devices were a necessary and important choice for the organisation to support an extensive and ongoing program to modernise and offer purpose-designed facilities.

“Before deploying the Toughbook solution, staff used standard laptops and desktops. Care personnel had to engage in a time-consuming process of hand-writing care notes beside the residents’ bed, and then electronically updating this information via a computer kiosk or when they return to the office” Mr Matin explained.

“Our aim for the Toughbook C1 is to use these as an alternative to computer kiosks – meaning our care personnel will be able to better manage clinical and care documentation.”

Mr Matin said that those who had the opportunity to use the Toughbook C1 appreciated its lightweight, rugged and extremely mobile design, as well as the ability to rotate the screen into tablet mode. In fact, the Operations Manager has now replaced his original laptop with the Panasonic Toughbook C1.

“The versatile keyboard and multi-touch screen for finger and electronic stylus are perfect for staff to use for both clinical documentation and medication management,” he added.

It was these same lightweight and durable features that also made the Panasonic Toughbook H1 MCA suitable for the organisation to improve medication management.

“Care personnel have noticed a significant improvement and simplification in medication management since the deployment of the H1 – particularly as it is highly durable and able to be fully sanitised which of course is crucial in the health industry.”

To further reduce medication errors and simplify the process of medication review and audit, The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus has deployed iCare’s Clinical and Medication Management software -the leading system in Australia for aged care providers – as it complements both the Panasonic Toughbook H1 and the C1.

Due to the initial success of the rollout, Mr Matin ex-pects to deploy more Panasonic Toughbook H1 and C1 devices across all facilities in the near future.

According to Mark Wallis, Group Manager, Toughbook, Panasonic Australia, both the C1 and H1 satisfy the wide-ranging demands of a mobile health organisation such as The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus.

“It is clear that rugged computing technologies are no longer only relevant to heavy industry and that reliable and durable computing solutions are now just as important to many companies whose staff have become increasingly mobile,” he said.

“Panasonic is world-renowned for delivering purpose built, reliable and rugged notebooks and is delighted to offer The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus personnel devices that can help to improve how staff work in a demanding and fast paced environment.”

The Toughbook CF-C1 is the world’s lightest 12.1” LCD convertible tablet PC, weighing just 1.47 kilo¬grams and featuring the option of convenient twin hot swappable batteries as well as multi-touch screen
functionality and Panasonic’s renowned rugged tech-nologies, offering superb desktop-class performance in a lightweight, convertible tablet.

Panasonic’s second generation of Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) – the Toughbook CF-H1 – is specifically designed to enhance resident care and help to reduce medical errors. With a unique fanless tablet design and no open ports, the CF-H1 can be easily and safely sanitised with hospital-grade disinfectant, reducing the spread of infection, and has been ergonomically de¬signed for extended use by medical staff. Furthermore, with increased RAM, impressive battery life and dual hot swappable batteries, the CF-H1 allows healthcare professionals continuous workflow and access to critical information.