Comprehensive Care Plan Development Using Resident Assessment Instrument Framework: Past, Present, and Future Practices

'I've heard of it but had nothing… not much to do with it': The experience of older people and their families with the Resident of the Day (ROD) process in Victorian aged care facilities

OBJECTIVES

To explore the experiences of older people living in Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and families of older people living in RACFs, regarding the process of Resident of the Day (ROD; sometimes referred to as a resident review) and their knowledge of how these assessments inform care planning.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were used to engage residents and families in conversations about their experiences and knowledge of the assessment associated with ROD and subsequent care planning. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate findings.

RESULTS

Twenty-six interviews were conducted in four RACFs across Victoria, diverse in terms of geographic location and provider type. Those residents who had some awareness of the ROD described the process only in superficial terms. Connections between ROD and care planning were unable to be made by most residents. Family members had a greater level of awareness of the ROD, although they were unable to describe the process or purpose and did not connect it to care planning.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite being undertaken in all Victorian RACFs, residents and families have little or no knowledge of the ROD process, purpose or what happens to the information collected.

Health care network model for older adults: a co-creation and participatory action research approach

Objective: To develop a collaborative, multidisciplinary care model for older adults that improves interdisciplinary teamwork and increases access to specialized services for frail patients, helping solve management problems in the Brazilian Unified Health System. In the state of Bahia, the health care network for older adults requires better interaction and integration with the Unified Health System and the Unified System of Social Assistance to improve patient flow in the network. Methods: We used a co-creation and participatory action research approach based on reflection, data collection, interaction, and feedback with participants and stakeholders. Data was collected from health professionals, representatives of health agencies, and older adults through collective and individual interviews, reflective diaries, and direct communication. Results: An action plan involving members of the older adult care network was developed to put the new model into practice. A pilot study with a multidisciplinary team allowed adjustments and implementation of the model at our institution. Conclusions: The new model improved both the internal management of the State Reference Center for Older Adult Health Care (Centro de Referência Estadual de Atenção à Saúde do Idoso - CREASI) and its interaction with primary care, optimizing patient flow and establishing rules for shared management between CREASI and primary care institutions. In view of this, restructuring the care model reorganized relations between the agencies, expanding CREASI’s role in the management and systematization of older adult health.

The consistency between planned and actually given nursing care in long-terminstitutional care

Continuous information exchange between healthcare professionals is facilitated by individualized care plans. Compliance with the planned care as documented in care plans is important to provide person-centered care which contributes to the continuity of care and quality of care outcomes. Using the Nursing Interventions Classification, this study examined the consistency between documented and actually provided interventions by type of nursing staff with 150 residents in long-term institutional care. The consistency was especially high for basic (93%) and complex (79%) physiological care. To a lesser extent for interventions in the behavioral domain (66%). Except for the safety domain, the probability that documented interventions were provided was high for all domains (≥ 91%, p > 0.05). NAs generally provided the interventions as documented. Findings suggest that HCAs worked beyond there scope of practice. The results may have implications for the deployment of nursing staff and are of importance to managers.

Are Changes Needed for Therapeutic Recreation Undergraduate Curricula? Perceived Competencies of Therapeutic Recreationists and Recreation Staff Working with Seniors in Long Term Care Homes

L’objectif de cette étude était d’identifier les lacunes dans les compétences gérontologiques autoperçues par le personnel en loisir dans les centres de soins de longue durée en Ontario. Deux séries de compétences gérontologiques ont été présentées dans un sondage en ligne qui a été distribué à du personnel en loisir œuvrant dans 500 centres de soins de longue durée. Parmi eux, 487 membres du personnel ont répondu au sondage. Ce sondage comportait des questions concernant les compétences actuelles du personnel et les compétences dont ils avaient eu connaissance avant d’entrer sur le marché du travail. Les facteurs perçus comme favorables à une plus grande confiance en ces compétences gérontologiques étaient l’expérience, la formation continue et les sessions de formation en cours d’emploi. Une meilleure compréhension des lacunes dans les compétences gérontologiques est nécessaire pour améliorer la formation en loisirs thérapeutiques, dont la formation continue dans ce domaine.

Role of comprehensive geriatric assessment in healthcare of older people in UK care homes: realist review

OBJECTIVES

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) may be a way to deliver optimal care for care home residents. We used realist review to develop a theory-driven account of how CGA works in care homes.

DESIGN

Realist review.

SETTING

Care homes.

METHODS

The review had three stages: first, interviews with expert stakeholders and scoping of the literature to develop programme theories for CGA; second, iterative searches with structured retrieval and extraction of the literature; third, synthesis to refine the programme theory of how CGA works in care homes.We used the following databases: Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, PsychInfo, PubMed, Google Scholar, Greylit, Cochrane Library and Joanna Briggs Institute.

RESULTS

130 articles informed a programme theory which suggested CGA had three main components: structured comprehensive assessment, developing a care plan and working towards patient-centred goals. Each of these required engagement of a multidisciplinary team (MDT). Most evidence was available around assessment, with tension between structured assessment led by a single professional and less structured assessment involving multiple members of an MDT. Care planning needed to accommodate visiting clinicians and there was evidence that a core MDT often used care planning as a mechanism to seek external specialist support. Goal-setting processes were not always sufficiently patient-centred and did not always accommodate the views of care home staff. Studies reported improved outcomes from CGA affecting resident satisfaction, prescribing, healthcare resource use and objective measures of quality of care.

CONCLUSION

The programme theory described here provides a framework for understanding how CGA could be effective in care homes. It will be of use to teams developing, implementing or auditing CGA in care homes. All three components are required to make CGA work-this may explain why attempts to implement CGA by interventions focused solely on assessment or care planning have failed in some long-term care settings.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42017062601.

Person-Centered Incontinence Care in Residential Care Facilities for Older Adults With Cognitive Decline: Feasibility and Preliminary Effects on Quality of Life and Quality of Care

The current study operationalized, assessed, and evaluated the feasibility and preliminary effects of implementing a person-centered approach to incontinence care for older adults with cognitive decline in residential care facilities (RCFs) in Sweden. Twenty health care workers were purposively sampled from two intervention RCFs. Process outcome was measured as number of assessments conducted for incontinence management. Impact outcome measures were quality of life, basal assessment of incontinence, incontinence actions taken, and personally chosen incontinence aids. A usual care control group RCF was matched by resident case-mix and geographic region. Introduction of a person-centered approach showed an increase in residents' quality of life in the intervention group compared to baseline and the control group. A positive effect was found on the number of urinary incontinence assessments conducted (p < 0.05). In addition, the number of person-centered caring actions (e.g., toilet assistance) was significantly higher during and 6 months after implementation of the person-centered approach. Implementing a person-centered approach in clinical practice focused on incontinence care, quality of care, and quality of life is supported for RCF residents. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 44(11), 10-19.].

Person-directed care planning in nursing homes: A scoping review

AIM

Federal regulations require nursing homes in the United States to support residents in directing their own care rather than having their care plans developed for them without their engagement, but knowledge of person-directed approaches to care planning in nursing homes is limited. The purpose of this study was to advance understanding of person-directed care planning (PDCP).

METHODS

A multidisciplinary research team conducted a scoping review on individual and family involvement in care planning, including literature from a variety of care contexts. Search results were systematically screened to identify literature that addressed individual or family involvement in care planning as a primary concern, and then analysed using thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

Several themes were identified, including definitions of the concept of PDCP, essential elements of PDCP, barriers, facilitators and outcomes. The concept of PDCP is informed by multiple disciplines, including humanist philosophy, disability rights and end-of-life care. Essential elements of PDCP include knowing the person, integrating the person's goals in care planning and updating care plans as individuals' needs or preferences change. Limited time for care planning in nursing homes hinders PDCP. Facilitators include regulatory mandates and humanist social trends. Outcomes of PDCP were found to be positive (e.g., increased independence), but were inconsistently assessed across studies.

CONCLUSION

This study offers pragmatic information that can support PDCP within nursing homes and insights for policy reform that may more effectively support PDCP.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

These findings can be used to guide implementation of PDCP.

Evaluation of a technology-enhanced integrated care model for frail older persons: protocol of the SPEC study, a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in nursing homes

Background

Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of the chronic care model for people with multimorbidity. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an information and communication technology- (ICT-)enhanced integrated care model, called Systems for Person-centered Elder Care (SPEC), for frail older adults at nursing homes.

Methods/Design

SPEC is a prospective stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial conducted at 10 nursing homes in South Korea. Residents aged 65 or older meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria in all the homes are eligible to participate. The multifaceted SPEC intervention, a geriatric care model guided by the chronic care model, consists of five components: comprehensive geriatric assessment for need/risk profiling, individual need-based care planning, interdisciplinary case conferences, person-centered care coordination, and a cloud-based information and communications technology (ICT) tool supporting the intervention process. The primary outcome is quality of care for older residents using a composite measure of quality indicators from the interRAI LTCF assessment system. Outcome assessors and data analysts will be blinded to group assignment. Secondary outcomes include quality of life, healthcare utilization, and cost. Process evaluation will be also conducted.

Discussion

This study is expected to provide important new evidence on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and implementation process of an ICT-supported chronic care model for older persons with multiple chronic illnesses. The SPEC intervention is also unique as the first registered trial implementing an integrated care model using technology to promote person-centered care for frail older nursing home residents in South Korea, where formal LTC was recently introduced.

Trial registration

10.1186/ISRCTN11972147