Go to primary content Go to footer
Nurse talking to citizen

Digital solution provides peace of mind and security in Hedensted Municipality

Columna Cura Tidlig Opsporing & Triage has quickly become an essential tool for the caregivers at Birkelund care home. The solution makes it easy for caregivers to register citizens’ early signs of illness, distress, or declining functionality.

Jane is a nurse in Hedensted Municipality, and Anne Marie is a social and healthcare assistant. Both work at Birkelund care home, where the Columna Cura Tidlig Opsporing & Triage solution has been used since April 2024.

The solution helps caregivers triage the citizens in the care home. In Hedensted Municipality, employees primarily use yellow and red in their triage work. Yellow signals a minor change in the citizen's condition, while red indicates that increased attention is needed due to a profound change in the citizen’s condition.

The triage information is used in daily collaboration within the department and in various contexts, such as during meetings, handovers, informing temporary staff about citizens, and when collaborating with nurses.

Cura Tidlig Opsporing & Triage is designed to help the user triage the citizen into the correct triage colour and thereby initiate relevant actions. This is done by providing caregivers with helpful tools that guide them to make the right decisions.

“If a citizen has fallen ill, we assess based on different criteria to determine whether the citizen should be marked yellow or red. We use the tools to decide which direction to go and which actions to initiate. We use this to create a concrete plan for the citizen's treatment in the coming days. This way, we have a clear plan that we follow up on daily.”
Jane
Nurse
Hedensted Municipality

Often, the department’s caregivers notice changes in a citizen’s functional abilities. Consequently, a nurse assesses the citizen closely and from here, triage is done accordingly.

Nurse Holding Patient Hand

Columna Cura Tidlig Opsporing & Triage

Cura Early Detection and Triage is a solution that makes it easy for staff to register citizens' early signs of illness, distress, or declining functionality. The registrations are part of the citizen’s care record and help ensure attention is given to the most vulnerable citizens.

The registrations are forwarded as tasks to relevant caregivers who can participate in assessing what the next steps should be.

The triage plan ensures that all staff working with the citizen are working towards the same goal and that follow-up is conducted to determine whether the implemented actions are effective.

Colours create an overview

With a comprehensive overview of all citizens' triage colours, employees can quickly assess if any require special attention. This is especially useful during handovers at the start of each shift.

“The next person coming in can quickly see which citizens are triaged yellow or red. Which ones must we be especially attentive to?” says Jane.

Anne Marie adds:

“I check the overview of the citizens in my department to see if any are marked yellow or red.”

As a nurse, Jane also has an extra benefit. On a weekend shift, she covers several nursing homes, and it is a significant advantage for her to see who has been triaged red or yellow across the different homes. This makes it easier for her to prioritise her time.

An overview right at hand

Triage is not a new practice in Hedensted Municipality. Previously, staff had to switch to another system to mark triage and get an overview.

“Now, with the system being a part of Cura, it has become much easier and more manageable. It feels much more automatic now because it’s right at your fingertips,” says Jane.

“And then it’s just a matter of clicking on the citizen, and you can go in and see what’s been done and what needs to be done. The colour coding gives us a more precise overview of the citizen,” says Anne Marie.

When the employee clicks to view the citizen’s journal, the triage information remains visible in the citizen overview.

“The most helpful feature of the solution is the overview. It’s so easy and manageable and easy to hand over because you can’t miss it,” says Jane.

Detecting early signs of illness

While the triage tool has been easy to use, incorporating Tidlig Opsporing into the employees’ routines has required additional effort.

“We’ve had difficulty determining when to use the early detection tool. Therefore, it’s been a topic at various team meetings, focusing on how it can be applied to all situations. It’s the employees in the departments who observe the small changes. For example, if a citizen suddenly can’t stand up on their own or take their trousers off or on, this behavioural change can be registered as an early detection.”
Jane
Nurse
Hedensted Municipality

In collaboration with a nurse, the team assesses whether immediate action is needed or if it’s something to monitor later. Additionally, the team discusses it when they meet to share their observations and ensure everyone is aware of the citizen’s condition.

When early detection is registered, a shared task is automatically created to ensure that the team around the citizen addresses whether a plan of action should be created.

Ensuring collaboration across departments

Tidlig Opsporing & Triage is a solution that improves collaboration across healthcare professions and ensures smooth handovers during shift changes.

“For me, as a nurse, there is much greater collaboration because Anne Marie, as a social and healthcare assistant who sees the citizens every day, notices things I might not see. We must cooperate well so we can make the best plan. I might come to a citizen who Anne Marie has known for 10 years, and I’ve only met twice. So, she knows the citizen far better than I do. So, working across teams is incredibly beneficial,” says Jane.

A change in a citizen's condition from yellow or red to green is decided at a meeting or by the nurse and social and healthcare assistant together.

“It gives the evening shift staff, assistants, and helpers peace of mind knowing that there’s a plan in place from the daytime shift. The plan gives them something concrete to work with, and it makes things easier. They know when they should take the next step and whether something can be monitored until the next day.”
Jane
Nurse
Hedensted Municipality

“Now, the triage gives incredible peace of mind. Before, it wasn’t always easy to transition to the old system. Now, you’re in the same system and don’t have to switch to something else, so we get it done. The more we have it in our hands, the better we are at using Tidlig Opsporing & Triage,” adds Anne Marie.

Adjusting to new practices

The power of habit is strong. Initially, the staff had to get used to the new way of working, and there was some hesitance towards the new possibilities. After a meeting where the entire staff reviewed the solution and discussed how the tool should be used in daily practice, everyone felt much more comfortable with it.

“You just have to dive in. There’s nothing dangerous about it. The benefit is so great that it makes things much easier on the other end,” says Jane.

Latest news

We are happy to share what we do. You can find our latest news here or browse through all of our healthcare news by clicking the button below.