The aged residential care programme is profiling some of the great work done in the sector. Here we look at how Ryman Healthcare developed an app to improve quality of life for residents and eliminate paperwork, and won an international award.
An app developed in New Zealand that improved quality of life for elderly residents and eliminated paperwork has won a top international award.
myRyman won the top prize in the Innovation of the Year Residential Care Model category at the Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards in Singapore on 15 May 2019.
The myRyman app runs on tablets in each of Ryman Healthcare’s 3,500 care rooms across New Zealand and Australi,a allowing nurses and care staff to update care records in the room with the resident, in real time.
Gordon MacLeod, Chief Executive of Ryman Healthcare said the win was great recognition for a large team who had turned the idea into reality.
‘It has been a massive team effort to build our own app from scratch and turn it into something that has made a real improvement to the care of our residents.
‘Not only has it done what it set out to do – get rid of paperwork – but the data we’re collecting from it means we better understand care outcomes and allow us to lift our standards of care even higher. We think it has huge potential, and we’re delighted all this work has been recognised.’
myRyman started out as an idea back in 2015 when Barbara Reynen-Rose, Chief Operations Officer of Ryman Healthcare went looking for an off-the-shelf electronic system for care in the United States but couldn't find one she liked.
myRyman was a revolution for care, says Barbara.
‘When you’ve been used to filling out a lot of paper work all of your career it is a big thing to go electronic. But everyone involved in the pilot loved it because the team did a great job at making the app easy to understand.
‘The hard thing is developing these apps in a way that is user-friendly and intuitive – and the team created something that everyone can use.’
‘It’s a bit like moving from a landline to using a smart phone. Once you’ve done it you never look back.’
Barbara said residents and their families could be assured that care plans were being read and updated and care staff no longer had to spend time at the nurses’ station entering what they had written down.
‘It’s all about people – improving care for our residents and making the job more satisfying for our care staff. No one signs up to sit behind a desk.’
myRyman was also a finalist in two other categories at the awards for the best innovations in aged care in the Asia Pacific region. The awards attract more than 200 entries from 17 countries.
Last updated: 13th November, 2021
