A Perfect Pair: The Art and Science of Caregiver/Client Matching

On Wednesday mornings in Trenton, New Jersey, Jessica visits her client Marie. She always brings groceries — including Marie’s favorite ice cream — a special treat for Mary’s cat, Sapphire, and a book of crossword puzzles to work on with Marie while they share a cup of tea.

Marie has Alzheimer’s disease, and Jessica is a nurse trained in dementia care. Each visit, she also makes a point of leafing through Mary’s cherished photo albums, and talks with her in her native language, German, about her childhood in Munich. Marie is noticeably uplifted on the days of Jessica’s visits, and tells staff at her home that she considers Jessica like family.

Special relationships

Marie and Jessica are both fictional. But this type of scenario — and the special bond that develops between caregiver and client — plays out in home care centers across the country, countless times a day.

These close relationships are the centrepiece of client-centric models, and have a profound impact on client well-being, caregiver experience, family satisfaction and, subsequently, the financial health of home care agencies.

But it’s not good fortune that enables meaningful relationships like this one — it’s the delicate art and science of caregiver and client matching. Coordinators who are in charge of scheduling must possess not only intimate knowledge of a caregiver’s skills, but of a client’s needs and wants — and pair them up accordingly. This is the art of the approach.

But it’s difficult to rely on art alone when there are dozens, if not hundred of clients — not to mention coordinator vacations, departures, and so forth — all of which can leave a deficit in your agency’s knowledge base. 

That’s where science comes into play to provide the most effective and efficient hybrid approach to caregiver/client match-ups, which in turn generates improved patient outcomes. 

It’s a match: the science of software 

With the right software solution, agencies have the opportunity to enhance their current matchmaking skills and give staff easier, more efficient access to essential details, marrying the best of science with the delicate art of personalized pairings.

While the final call on matchmaking decisions can still be left to a human mind, consider the following beneficial scientific boosts from a turn-key software solution: 

• At-a-glance database of employee skills, licenses, certifications — e.g., in the above caregiver/client scenario, ensuring that Jessica has the right dementia training to meet Marie’s needs;
• A record of relevant soft skills, attributes and lifestyle characteristics — e.g., has a cat, speaks German;
• Easily recognizes employee tenure, seniority and rank, ensuring preferential scheduling requests as needed;
• Tracks employee home proximity, travel distance and even mode of transportation (e.g., bike, car, public transit) to ensure optimal scheduling time between clients;
• Leverages real-time availability and/or unavailability based on vacation schedules, illness and more;
• Determines capacity, utilization and labor constraints (overtime requirements and other labor regulations);
• Tracks all employee ties to a particular client to ensure continuity of care;
• Optimizes forecasting with software permissions to allow minor changes and schedule re-shuffles for efficiency.

AlayaCare provides revolutionary cloud-based home care software with the most fulsome scheduling capabilities on the market today, with even more robust integrated schedule optimization technology launching later this year. 

Our exclusive home care software algorithm marries the very best of art and science with meaningful impact on key performance metrics, resulting in more satisfied clients and in turn, higher quality care.

Request a personal demo today and see how AlayaCare can boost your caregiver/client matches — and your bottom line. 

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