Tailored software training and support key to Scalabrini’s success

Residential aged care provider, Scalabrini Village Ltd, recently undertook a major software enhancement project, which saw the upgrade of Telstra Health’s Clinical Manager and MedMobile software, a move to cloud based hosting, as well as the introduction of family communication software, Message Manager.

The Scalabrini team sat down with Telstra Health to share some key learnings and achievements from the project.

Founded in 1968, Scalabrini Village Ltd is a not-for-profit residential aged care provider with six villages in New South Wales. With its rich heritage in supporting the Christian Italian-Australian community, Scalabrini now serves people from all faiths and cultures with an emphasis on placing the residents’ needs at the centre of business decisions.

Tailored training for over 450 staff

This was a major upgrade for Scalabrini, and the coordination of staff training was a huge feat. Telstra Health conducted 158 training sessions with over 450 staff across multiple locations, all within the short timeframe of just two months.

Given the COVID-19 restrictions in New South Wales, all training sessions were hosted online, which required extra levels of coordination given the number of staff across multiple sites.

Project Manager, Tershia Bunsee, explained, “The upgrade project was unique in that it required extensive coordination of staff and resources which included both internal and external teams; but we moved through it quite effortlessly with the assistance of the Telstra Health team.”

Director of Clinical Governance & Quality, Birgit Burge, added “It was a grand team effort, particularly given the COVID-19 pressures and restrictions on front line staff. Considering everything, I’m amazed at how smoothly it all went.”

“Both Clinical Manager and MedMobile are really intuitive,” continued Birgit. “So it was reassuring to staff that even if they missed a training session, they would be able to work their way through the new functionality – and I think that’s really important.”

Staff feedback positive across the board

Now up and running with the latest software versions, Birgit commented that the reaction from staff has been highly positive.

“Things are really easy for the Registered Nurses now,” said Birgit. “The fact that they can create a Care Plan, and Assessments flow directly to it has made the process more fail proof.”

“In the current environment, there’s a lot of reporting we have to do for compliance purposes. The reporting that is included makes accessing that information much easier for our Care Managers,” said Birgit. 

Secure and protected with cloud-hosting

One of Scalabrini’s main motivations in moving from on-premise hosted software to the cloud was to enable servers and applications to be maintained externally; reducing internal staff resourcing and costs.

Scalabrini’s IT Solutions Manager, Pedro Duran, explained, “Maintaining and managing servers is not our core business. It is more convenient to have Software as a Service (SaaS) for our Clinical Manager software where Telstra Health can manage the whole process including hosting with Microsoft Azure in such a way that our data remains secure and protected.”

“Being hosted in Telstra Health’s cloud offering also allows us to schedule software upgrades regularly, while at the same time we continue to have direct access to our data for custom reporting.” continued Pedro.

Fast and reliable communication

Part of Scalabrini’s upgrade project included Telstra Health’s Message Manager software. The software enables residential aged care providers to quickly and easily communicate with residents’ loved ones via email and SMS messaging.

When asked about the reasons for implementing Message Manager, Birgit explained, “Having all resident related information available in the one place in Clinical Manager and having that flow into Message Manager was really important.”

“It’s pertinent at the moment during COVID-19 that if we do want to get alerts out to families we can do so very quickly and be assured that the database is correct because it’s all from the one source.”

“We can also easily recall what information has been sent, irrespective of which staff member sent it or even if they leave the organisation,” continued Birgit. 

A true partnership approach

The Telstra Health team worked closely with Scalabrini throughout the implementation, training and support stage of their software and hosting upgrades.

Tershia emphasised, “I can’t commend the Telstra Health team highly enough. They were incredibly flexible in accommodating our needs and any short notice changes which arose.”

“The feedback received from staff was overwhelmingly positive. They found the training highly engaging and exactly what they needed to fulfil their role. Furthermore, the professionalism and leadership skills of our Telstra Health Implementation Consultant instilled confidence and ensured the project remained on track, keeping us well informed at all times”, continued Tershia.

“An additional benefit we experienced”, Birgit added, “is that the Telstra Health team helped us review and reinforce our business processes, so it was a very well-rounded effort.”

When asked about Scalabrini’s reason for recommending Telstra Health, Birgit emphasised the benefits of the residential software solution.

“It is an easy system to learn. It is so intuitive and so easy to navigate,” said Birgit. “It also supports efficient use of staff time and is highly adaptable to individual providers’ business needs and their processes.”

The is a case study only. Results will vary depending on circumstantial organisational factors, including efficient organisation implementation, and the number of modules available and implemented by the client.