Comprehensive Guide to Conducting QI Program Surveys

On April 1, 2023, the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) broadened its scope to encompass six additional indicators:

1. Activities of daily living
2. Incontinence care
3. Hospitalization
4. Workforce
5. Consumer experience
6. Quality of life

Data for the initial nine indicators can be sourced from existing care management, HR, or accounting systems. However, the last two—Consumer experience and Quality of life—present a different challenge. These indicators necessitate surveys from each care recipient twice per quarter. While the "Quality of Care Experience" and "Quality of Life" surveys are not extensive, they undoubtedly introduce a substantial time commitment.

In this guide, we'll walk you through effective survey strategies, firstly utilizing Tell Touch's survey module and subsequently, using paper forms. With Tell Touch, collecting, storing, and monitoring survey results has become significantly easier. Unlike other online digital surveys, with Tell Touch, your data is securely stored within Australia.

Before proceeding, a word of caution. There are numerous effective digital survey tools available, such as Survey Monkey and Google Forms. However, these surveys often contain sensitive "personal health data". As LegalVision (and others) point out, "Health records and associated data must not be processed, held, taken, handled, or stored outside Australia." These tools may be permissible with express consent, yet we advise consulting with your legal team prior to utilising them. Since these digital survey tools often store data outside of Australia, we recommend avoiding them to be on the safe side.

That leaves us with a choice between a labour-intensive manual process or the use of Tell Touch. Let's delve into both methods using a hypothetical home with 100 residents, where roughly half are capable of completing the survey when a staff member conducts it. We'll also assume that 10% of consumers and 30% of representatives will refuse to do it.

Using Tell Touch

1. Conduct self-complete surveys. 
1. Access the "Consumer Activity Report" on your Tell Touch dashboard on an iPad. Set the timeframe to "This Quarter". Here you'll see a list of consumers that have and have not completed the required surveys. Given guidelines stipulate that residents should complete the survey if they are capable, we'll start here. We're going to work down the list. 
2. On each day of the first 3 weeks of the quarter, we'll survey 3 residents that are capable of completing the survey. (Estimated time 10 minutes times 45 surveys equals 7.5 hours)
2. On the 1st day of the second month, go to the "Consumer Activity Report" on your Tell Touch dashboard. Set the timeframe to "This Quarter". Press the "Send survey" buttons in both the "QCE Score" and "QOL Score" sections to send a request via email or SMS to consumers and their representatives to complete the surveys. We might expect that 50% (25 people) will complete the surveys. (Estimated time: 1 minute)
3. On the 15th day of the second month, repeat the last step to try again with the remaining 25 people. This might net another 5 people. (Estimated time: 1 minute)
4. On the 1st day of the third month, with around 25 consumers remaining, begin making phone calls to the remaining representatives and request they complete the survey over the phone. This might be spread out over the next two weeks. (Estimated time: 2 hours)
5. Once all surveys are complete, the reportable value can be found in the "Consumer Activity Report". Enter this score in the My Aged Care Portal. (Estimated time: 1 minute)

Total time using Tell Touch: Approximately 9 hours and 33 minutes.

Using Paper Forms

1. Create a list of all residents. We suggest using an Excel spreadsheet. This should include the following data:
• Consumer name
• Their capability of completing the surveys
• Primary representative's name, postal address, and phone number
• Dates the QOL and QCE surveys were sent and returned
• QOL and QCE scores
  (Estimated time: 1 hour)
2. On the first day of the quarter, print each survey for each resident and organize them into folders:
• Folder 1: Surveys for Residents to Complete
• Folder 2: Surveys for Representatives to Complete
  (Estimated time: 1 hour)
3. Delegate a carer to survey capable residents spending 60 minutes a day for 16 days. (Estimated time: 16 hours)
4. On the first day of the second month, collect all completed surveys and calculate the scores. (Estimated time: 2 hours)
5. Enter the data into the Excel spreadsheet. (Estimated time: 1 hour)
6. For the remaining 25 residents, prepare a mailout:
• Address envelopes and include self-addressed envelopes for return.
• Print out a cover letter (use this template) and include the surveys.
• Mail the surveys and note the date sent in the spreadsheet.
  (Estimated time: 2 hours)
7. On the 15th of the second month, collate all returned surveys, calculate the scores, and input the results into the spreadsheet. (Estimated time: 30 minutes)
8. Call the remaining representatives and ask them to complete the survey over the phone, immediately calculate the scores, and input the data into the spreadsheet. Spread this out over the next few weeks. (Estimated time: 3 hours)
9. Once all surveys are complete, calculate the reportable value from the spreadsheet data. Enter this score in the My Aged Care Portal. (Estimated time: 1 minute)

Total time using Paper Forms: Approximately 26 hours 31 minutes.

Comparing the Options

A quick calculation reveals that opting for Tell Touch saves nearly three working days per quarter or 12 days per year. Given there are 220 working days per year (accounting for sick leave and annual leave), that's a saving of over 5%.

With the average annual salary of an Aged Care Manager being $120,000, saving 5% equates to a significant $6,000 per year.

Choosing Tell Touch offers benefits such as:

• Full visibility of survey progress;
• Real-time tracking of results; and
• No need to physically store data (required if audited).

Reach out to us now for a comprehensive demo and to learn more.