DRs TQM has been operating since 2000. The Principal advisor for the company is Devi Ranasinghe. Devi is a registered nurse with over 30 years of experience in the aged care industry, and has collegiate background in business and health education. Devi Ranasinghe has demonstrated great determination and great achievement in her self education and professional development. Since arriving in Australia in 1977, she has undertaken vocational and professional education in nursing and administration, from matriculation, graduate, post graduate diploma, masters, right through to doctoral level. Nursing and aged care has been her work and she has always aligned her academic studies with her main interest in continuous improvement in aged care standards. She has developed her work academically and on the job, without any formal assistance or support, but out of a wish to improve standards of care. Working first in acute then in aged care, Devi has sought to transfer across the more developed and structured approach of the former, to benefit aged care. "Most of all, we can help you in achieving compliance, so that your facility operates in a smooth and efficient manner and in turn residents and families receive the highest standard of practice." She sees continuous improvement as a key factor in aged as well as general care, and after training in this field, she applied it to her work at the Kingston Aged Centre in Victoria. Devi developed quality manuals, and educated staff in continuous quality improvement. She introduced contemporary practices to rehabilitation nursing such as promoting resident independence in personal care. Her doctoral thesis is concerned with an issue of interest to all in aged care - accreditation standards. Her research aims to examine how measurable outcomes can be achieved by introducing 'improvement indicators' to the standards, and the use of Statistical Process Control tools to find, monitor and measure processes and systems in Continuous Quality Improvement in aged care standards. Devi has shared her knowledge widely at Australian conferences, the 2002 International Quality Congress in the UK and information sessions on Quality Improvement with Data, which has been followed up in publications by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency in 2002. Her interest in aged care has not been confined to her doctoral research. She has also studied dementia as a result of working with elderly patients with dementia in the acute and aged sector. Devi's future vision is that aged care should concentrate on implementing 'Continuous Risk Management' to health and life style standards. In order to maintain our service demand there are other qualified members available to provide services to the company. The other qualified member is Sylvia Sinnatt . A trained nurse with extensive experience in aged care auditing. However, we believe that we can learn from other services. We seek expert advice from: Dr. Vaughan Speck BSc, MBBS who is a General Practitioner and an experienced Accreditation Surveyor for Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) Andrew Cliff B.Eng. Engineer, with a wide experience in management and quality systems. Dr. Wendy Attwater B. Bus M.Com. M.MLLR. Wendy 's area of expertise is in Human Resource Management. Our experienced professional staff have a broad – based, hands - on knowledge of the aged care industry and can address specific quality improvement problems, set goals and help you be “the best” in the aged care industry. Most of all, we can help you in achieving compliance, so that your facility operates in a smooth and efficient manner and in turn residents and families receive the highest standard of practice. We are focused on process monitoring systems. Another important issue is that you can commence internal or external ‘Benchmarking’ with indicators for selected outcomes. Indicators:
Benchmarking can be done only with tangible side of the services. The care delivery involves many intangibles. Therefore, we advocate that facilities must have a 'Risk management' process for intangible services. 'Risk management' is new to health care and certainly not in aged care yet. Be proactive and innovative. Why wait? Be first and best in the industry. We can provide advice and give guidance in risk management for you to have a cutting edge, in the aged care industry. We are committed to quality and the quest for excellence and work with you to achieve this. |