Supporting Employee Orientation In Elderly Care Homes With Digital Guide

Abstract

Orientation guides in the Nursing profession are essential for assisting students, new hires, and replacements in understanding their roles and what to anticipate in the workplace. An important requirement for all Finnish employers is preparation of orientation in advance of their recruitment process, tailoring the orientation to the employee’s skills, characteristics, and needs. These orientation guidelines are crucial in healthcare settings, especially in 24-hour care facilities for the elderly, to reduce errors, increase self-assurance, and guarantee excellent care. Digital orientation guides prove to be more effective in engaging the users and aid in retention, especially when learners are presented with complex environmental tasks.

The thesis had the objectives of enhancing the efficiency of onboarding newly hired workers to elderly care units, fostering quicker adjustment to independent work, increasing staff engagement, and improving knowledge retention. The project aimed at making a digital orientation material for employees and students at a 24-hour care unit for a private healthcare provider in Pori, Finland, using Thinglink.

The Agile methodology was used for this project because it offers the flexibility of adjusting each iteration of the project to the changing demands of the work. It comprised of 4 phases. Namely: ideation phase, planning phase, design phase, and testing phase.

The final product is a digital app created with Thinglink. It shows a 17-page tour of the entire building of an elderly care home, from its main entrance to all the spaces in the home. It features interactive tags that reveal the location of the fire alarm, emergency exits, and evacuation routes. All texts were written in English and Finnish languages. The product is compatible with electronic devices like phones, ipads, laptops and desktops.