Education a focal point for OMNI in 2007
Thursday December 20, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Educating staff members to keep them up to date on best practices and the latest technology available to the long-term care sector is essential to OMNI Health Care’s dedication to the residents living in its 16 homes.

Over the past year OMNI staff members have participated in some major education initiatives.

Since January, every staff member has been required to take supportive measures training. This is the first time in OMNI’s history that supportive measures training has been mandatory for staff members across the board. Training is scheduled to be completed in all homes by Dec. 31.

Supportive measures specialists note that by having everyone trained in these practices, residents will receive the best care possible.

While supportive measures have been practiced in OMNI homes for many years, these techniques, which seek to accommodate behaviours rather than change them, now have a name attached to them.

“Any time you see someone who’s upset and a staff member goes out of their way to comfort that resident — even by doing the littlest thing — it’s a supportive measure,” says Debbie Harding, supportive measures specialist and clinical care co-ordinator at Woodland Villa in Long Sault.

OMNI staff members have also attended seminars to learn more about managing pain and learning about using pain medications to treat residents exhibiting agitation, rather than psychotropic medications, as in the past.

Because of education in this area OMNI homes have been successful in reducing the use of psychotropic medications by increasing the administration of pain medications. This helps curb agitation and provides residents with a better quality of life.

“If you control pain, you really make a big dent in those behaviours,” says Barb Bremner, a pharmacist consultant with pharmaceutical supplier Medical Pharmacies, an OMNI partner. “I think when you go into homes, you can see that the residents are more comfortable.”

OMNI homes also saw the introduction of a new computer application in 2007 which is aimed at helping life enrichment departments document information about residents.

ActivityPro helps life enrichment staff in many areas, by documenting residents’ likes, dislikes, as well as their attendance record during programming.

“We’re ecstatic to have (the program),” April Anderson, life enrichment co-ordinator at Burnbrae Gardens in Campbellford, said in May. “Overall, it will be a great asset to our department . . . It will bring all of the LECs on the same page.”