How is hydration assessed and managed in acute stroke? A qualitative study of healthcare staff's knowledge, attitudes and experiences

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore healthcare staff's experiences of how dehydration is identified and managed in hospitalised patients after acute stroke, and facilitators and challenges to optimising hydration.

BACKGROUND

Optimal hydration post-stroke reduces the risk of neurological deterioration and other complications. Patients are at risk of dehydration in acute stroke, particularly those with dysphagia.

DESIGN

A descriptive qualitative study reported following the COREQ guidelines.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews, utilising patient vignettes, were conducted in 2018 (Apr-Oct) with a purposive sample of 30 multidisciplinary staff members from two UK stroke units. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis identified common themes which were mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework and the Behaviour Change Wheel.

RESULTS

The themes were mapped to twelve of the fourteen domains in the Theoretical Domains Framework. Participants believed that inadequate hydration management had potentially serious consequences, and described complex knowledge, skills and cognitive elements to effective hydration care. Participants felt that maintaining hydration was a multidisciplinary responsibility requiring good communication. Although the performance of initial dysphagia screening was reinforced by external audit, other areas of post-stroke hydration management were not; notably, there was no established method of assessing hydration. Barriers to maintaining good hydration included lack of staff, out-of-hours working patterns, low priority given to hydration, patients' comorbidities and complex post-stroke disabilities such as dysphagia, aphasia, inattention and hemiparesis.

CONCLUSION

Findings highlighted the importance of assessing and maintaining hydration but identified barriers to, and variation in, clinical practice. To provide optimal care, barriers to the prevention and treatment of dehydration after stroke must be further understood and addressed.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Multidisciplinary teamwork is important in hydration care after stroke, but clarity is required about the specific contributions of each team member. Without this, hydration care becomes 'everybody's and nobody's job'.

Development of trauma team cognition can be explained by "split vision": A grounded theory study

The aim of this study was to explore interaction of interprofessional hospital trauma teams. A theory about how team cognition is developed through a dynamical process was established using grounded theory methodology. Video recordings of in-real-life resuscitations performed in the emergency ward of a Scandinavian mid-size urban hospital were collected and eligible for inclusion using theoretical sampling. By analyzing interactions during seven trauma resuscitations, the theory that trauma teams perform patient assessment and resuscitation by alternating between two process modes, the two main categories "team positioning" and "sensitivity to the patient," was generated. The core category "working with split vision" explicates how the teams interplay between the two modes to coordinate team focus with an emergent mental model of the specific situation. Split vision ensures that deeper aspects of the team, such as culture, knowledge, empathy, and patient needs are absorbed to continuously adapt team positioning and create precision in care for the specific patient.

Empowerment of care home staff through effective collaboration with healthcare

Integrative local health delivery models in the UK, under the framework of Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHICH), have been developed to improve joint working between health and social care to benefit the patient. Despite this drive toward health and social care integration, research on the barriers, facilitators, and impact of partnership working on role of care home staff is underdeveloped. This study set out to explore views on how closer working between health and social care can impact on the role of care home staff and any barriers to effective integration. Staff from 25 care homes and GPs from their partnered practices were interviewed to explore the impact of the partnership. Homes receiving regular visits from the same health professional found the relationship between the two sectors had benefitted both residents and staff. The development of trusting relationships, access to support and information, and recognition and respect were all seen as facilitating the partnership and enhancing patient care. Regular and effective interactions with health-care professionals were key and had the potential to empower and increase confidence of care home staff in their role around health care. Factors negatively impacting on strength of relationship such as visits by inconsistent professional and high turnover of care home staff were a barrier to successful partnerships. Experiences of poor interactions with those from health-care services where there was an absence of a trusting relationship were disempowering to care home staff and remain a barrier to effective wider health and social care collaboration.

Effect of interprofessional collaboration among nursing home professionals on end-of-life care in nursing homes

As end-of-life (EOL) care in nursing homes is gradually increasing, interprofessional collaboration in EOL care in nursing homes is becoming important. However, a method for measuring interprofessional collaboration has not been established. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify the effect of interprofessional collaboration on EOL care in nursing homes. Questionnaires were mailed to the facility directors of 378 nursing homes in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and distributed to nurses, care managers, and professional caregivers. Three professionals from each nursing home completed the same questionnaire, which included 9 items on EOL care: shared facility policy, residents' wishes, each professional's roles, person in charge of the facility, residents' conditions, mental status of residents' families, emergency codes, residents' key people, and sufficient discussion among professionals. Based on the professionals' responses, interprofessional collaboration was assessed. We used multivariable analysis, with interprofessional collaboration as an independent factor. The outcome was the amount of EOL care in the nursing home. A total of 180 (47.6%) nursing homes participated. Multivariable analysis showed that interprofessional collaboration (beta [β] coefficient 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-4.48; p = 0.017), availability of EOL care bonuses (β coefficient 4.4, 95% CI 1.41-7.38; p = 0.004), physician support for emergency care during off time (β coefficient 5.4, 95% CI 1.86-8.94; p = 0.003), and EOL care conferences (β coefficient 4.1, 95% CI 1.19-6.99; p = 0.006) were significant factors associated with the amount of EOL care in the nursing homes. We found evidence in the adjusted model that interprofessional collaboration among facility professionals is effective for EOL care in nursing homes.

Towards a theoretical framework for Integrated Team Leadership (IgTL)

This study presents a framework for the leadership of integrated, interprofessional health, and social-care teams (IgTs) based on a previous literature review and a qualitative study. The theoretical framework for Integrated Team Leadership (IgTL) is based on contributions from 15 professional and nonprofessional staff, in 8 community teams in the United Kingdom. Participants shared their perceptions of IgT's good practice in relation to patient outcomes. There were two clear elements, Person-focused and Task-focused leadership behaviors with particular emphasis on the facilitation of shared professional practices. Person-focused leadership skills include: inspiring and motivating; walking the talk; change and innovation; consideration; empowerment, teambuilding and team maintenance; and emotional intelligence. Task-focused leadership behaviors included: setting team direction; managing performance; and managing external relationships. Team members felt that the IgTL should be: a Health or Social Care (HSC) professional; engaged in professional practice; and have worked in an IgT before leading one. Technical and cultural issues were identified that differentiate IgTL from usual leadership practice; in particular the ability to facilitate or create barriers to effective integrated teamworking within the organizational context. In common with other OECD countries, there are policy imperatives in England for further integration of health and social care, needed to improve the quality and effectiveness of care for older people with multiple conditions. Further attention is needed to support the development of effective IgTs and leadership will be a pre-requisite to achieve this vision. The research advances the understanding of the need for skilled interprofessional leadership practice.

How do team experience and relationships shape new divisions of labour in robot-assisted surgery? A realist investigation

Safe and successful surgery depends on effective teamwork between professional groups, each playing their part in a complex division of labour. This article reports the first empirical examination of how introduction of robot-assisted surgery changes the division of labour within surgical teams and impacts teamwork and patient safety. Data collection and analysis was informed by realist principles. Interviews were conducted with surgical teams across nine UK hospitals and, in a multi-site case study across four hospitals, data were collected using a range of methods, including ethnographic observation, video recording and semi-structured interviews. Our findings reveal that as the robot enables the surgeon to do more, the surgical assistant's role becomes less clearly defined. Robot-assisted surgery also introduces new tasks for the surgical assistant and scrub practitioner, in terms of communicating information to the surgeon. However, the use of robot-assisted surgery does not redistribute work in a uniform way; contextual factors of individual experience and team relationships shape changes to the division of labour. For instance, in some situations, scrub practitioners take on the role of supporting inexperienced surgical assistants. These changes in the division of labour do not persist when team members return to operations that are not robot-assisted. This study contributes to wider literature on divisions of labour in healthcare and how this is impacted by the introduction of new technologies. In particular, we emphasise the need to pay attention to often neglected micro-level contextual factors. This can highlight behaviours that can be promoted to benefit patient care.

'The challenges of sharing information when a young person is experiencing severe emotional difficulties': implications for schools and CAMHS

BACKGROUND

Supporting the education of children and young people with complex emotional mental health difficulties requires schools to have knowledge of their needs. Exchanging information about less visible mental health difficulties is, however, known to be complex. Exploring the perceptions of young people experiencing problems can explicate some of this complexity and identify solutions. Yet their views are rarely given credence in this context.

METHODS

The findings were derived from a broader qualitative study exploring the school experiences of young people, aged 14-16 years, identified by CAMHS as having severe emotional difficulties. Their parents' and teachers' perceptions were also explored. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Findings demonstrated that young people experiencing emotional difficulties need to feel safe about exchanging private information pertaining to their mental health. Teachers having a basic knowledge of mental health promoted their safety as this ensured confidentiality. Participants reported that CAMHS practitioners needed to be more proactive regarding the practicalities of exchanging information.

CONCLUSIONS

Arguably, teachers need to have basic knowledge of mental health and schools need clearer mental health confidentiality guidance. CAMHS also have responsibility in identifying more information exchange mechanisms and young service users and parents can play a part in this.

Exploring the use of high-fidelity simulation training to enhance clinical skills

The use of interprofessional simulation training to enhance nursing students' performance of technical and non-technical clinical skills is becoming increasingly common. Simulation training can involve the use of role play, virtual reality or patient simulator manikins to replicate clinical scenarios and assess the nursing student's ability to, for example, undertake clinical observations or work as part of a team. Simulation training enables nursing students to practise clinical skills in a safe environment. Effective simulation training requires extensive preparation, and debriefing is necessary following a simulated training session to review any positive or negative aspects of the learning experience. This article discusses a high-fidelity simulated training session that was used to assess a group of third-year nursing students and foundation level 1 medical students. This involved the use of a patient simulator manikin in a scenario that required the collaborative management of a deteriorating patient.

Service failures and challenges in responding to people bereaved through drugs and alcohol: An interprofessional analysis

This article reports findings from the first two stages of a three-stage qualitative study which considered the role of services, including public, private and charitable organisations, in responding to the needs of adults bereaved following the drug and/or alcohol-related death of someone close. The study, the first of its kind to explore the landscape and role of services in substance use deaths, was conducted over two sites: south west England and Scotland. In stage 1 of the research, adopting both convenience and purposive sampling, data were collected via semi-structured interviews on experiences and support needs of bereaved individuals (n = 106). In stage 2, six focus groups were conducted with a purposive sample of practitioners (n = 40), including those working for the police, coroner's service, procurator fiscal depute (Scotland), health service, funeral service, press, clergy, Public Health England, Drugs Policy Unit, bereavement counselling/support and alcohol and drug treatment services, to investigate how services may better respond to this bereavement. Thematic analysis from both data-sets identified two overarching themes. The first, focusing on practitioner responses, captures how these bereaved people may meet with inadequate, unkind, and discriminatory responses from services. Having to navigate unfamiliar, fragmented, and time-consuming procedures compounds the bereaved's distress at an already difficult time, illustrated by a 'mapping' of relevant services. The second relates to challenges and opportunities for those responding. Service failures reflect practitioners' poor understanding of both substance use bereavement and the range of other practitioners and services involved. Those bereaved are a poorly understood, neglected and stigmatised group of service users. There is a need for services to respond without judgement or insensitive language, and provide information about, communicate and work closely with, other services despite differences in working practices and cultures. These recommendations could positively affect bereaved peoples' experiences, alleviating stress and overwhelm at a particularly vulnerable time.

Enhancing Care Transitions for Older People through Interprofessional Simulation: A Mixed Method Evaluation

INTRODUCTION

The educational needs of the health and social care workforce for delivering effective integrated care are important. This paper reports on the development, pilot and evaluation of an interprofessional simulation course, which aimed to support integrated care models for care transitions for older people from hospital to home.

THEORY AND METHODS

The course development was informed by a literature review and a scoping exercise with the health and social care workforce. The course ran six times and was attended by health and social care professionals from hospital and community (n = 49). The evaluation aimed to elicit staff perceptions of their learning about care transfers of older people and to explore application of learning into practice and perceived outcomes. The study used a sequential mixed method design with questionnaires completed pre (n = 44) and post (n = 47) course and interviews (n = 9) 2-5 months later.

RESULTS

Participants evaluated interprofessional simulation as a successful strategy. Post-course, participants identified learning points and at the interviews, similar themes with examples of application in practice were: Understanding individual needs and empathy; Communicating with patients and families; Interprofessional working; Working across settings to achieve effective care transitions.

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

An interprofessional simulation course successfully brought together health and social care professionals across settings to develop integrated care skills and improve care transitions for older people with complex needs from hospital to home.

Using comprehensive geriatric assessment for quality improvements in healthcare of older people in UK care homes: protocol for realist review within Proactive Healthcare of Older People in Care Homes (PEACH) study

INTRODUCTION

Care home residents are relatively high users of healthcare resources and may have complex needs. Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) may benefit care home residents and improve efficiency of care delivery. This is an approach to care in which there is a thorough multidisciplinary assessment (physical and mental health, functioning and physical and social environments) and a care plan based on this assessment, usually delivered by a multidisciplinary team. The CGA process is known to improve outcomes for community-dwelling older people and those in receipt of hospital care, but less is known about its efficacy in care home residents.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Realist review was selected as the most appropriate method to explore the complex nature of the care home setting and multidisciplinary delivery of care. The aim of the realist review is to identify and characterise a programme theory that underpins the CGA intervention. The realist review will extract data from research articles which describe the causal mechanisms through which the practice of CGA generates outcomes. The focus of the intervention is care homes, and the outcomes of interest are health-related quality of life and satisfaction with services; for both residents and staff. Further outcomes may include appropriate use of National Health Service services and resources of older care home residents. The review will proceed through three stages: (1) identifying the candidate programme theories that underpin CGA through interviews with key stakeholders, systematic search of the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed evidence, (2) identifying the evidence relevant to CGA in UK care homes and refining the programme theories through refining and iterating the systematic search, lateral searches and seeking further information from study authors and (3) analysis and synthesis of evidence, involving the testing of the programme theories.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The PEACH project was identified as service development following submission to the UK Health Research Authority and subsequent review by the University of Nottingham Research Ethics Committee. The study protocols have been reviewed as part of good governance by the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. We aim to publish this realist review in a peer-reviewed journal with international readership. We will disseminate findings to public and stakeholders using knowledge mobilisation techniques. Stakeholders will include the Quality Improvement Collaboratives within PEACH study. National networks, such as British Society of Gerontology and National Care Association will be approached for wider dissemination.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

The realist review has been registered on International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO 2017: CRD42017062601).

Action learning: an effective way to improve cancer-related pain management

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the efficacy of action learning for improving cancer related pain management in the acute healthcare settings.

BACKGROUND

Despite the prevalent use of action learning in private, public, clinical and non-clinical settings, no studies were found in the literature that either examined cancer pain management or used action learning as an approach to improve patient care in acute healthcare settings.

METHODS

An intervention pre - posttest design was adopted using an action learning programme (ALPs) as the intervention. Healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes and practice were assessed and evaluated before and after the implementation of the six-month ALPs. A pre and post audit and survey were conducted for data collection. The data were collected from the entire population of 170 healthcare professionals in one healthcare organisation.

RESULTS

The management of cancer related pain improved significantly following the intervention. Significant improvement were also seen in healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes with improved cancer related pain management as a consequence of this.

CONCLUSION

Despite many organisational challenges to practice development and collaborative working in healthcare settings there is evidence that action learning can achieve positive outcomes for improving CRP and supporting collaborative working.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Action learning needs to be considered as a strategy for achieving high quality standards.

Developing junior doctors' prescribing practices through collaborative practice: Sustaining and transforming the practice of communities

Prescribing in acute healthcare settings is a complex interprofessional process with a high incidence of medication errors. Opportunities exist to improve prescribing learning through collaborative practice. This qualitative interview-based study aimed to investigate the development of junior doctors' prescribing capacity and how pharmacists contribute interprofessionally to this development and the prescribing practices of a medical community. The setting for this study was a large teaching hospital in Australia where ethical approval was gained before commencing the study. A constructionist approach was adopted and the interviews were held with a purposive sample of 34 participants including junior doctors (n = 11), clinical supervisors (medical; n = 10), and pharmacists (n = 13). Informed by workplace learning theory, interview data were thematically analysed. Three key themes related to pharmacists' contributions to prescribing practices emerged: building prescribing capacities of junior doctors through guidance and instruction; sustaining safe prescribing practices of the community in response to junior doctor rotations; and transforming prescribing practices of the community through workplace learning facilitation and team integration. These findings emphasize the important contributions made by pharmacists to building junior doctors' prescribing capacities that also assist in transforming the practices of that community. These findings suggest that rather than developing more conventional education programs for prescribing, further consideration should be given to interprofessional collaboration in everyday activities and interactions as a means to promote both effective learning for individuals and advancing the enactment of effective prescribing practice.

New Ways of Working in UK mental health services: developing distributed responsibility in community mental health teams?

BACKGROUND

This paper examines the introduction and operation of a number of support roles in mental health services. This is done in the context of concerns about the effectiveness of CMHTs.

AIMS

Three questions are addressed: the degree to which concern for the work of consultant psychiatrists informed the introduction of the new roles; what the reforms implied for the work of the psychiatrist and those in new roles; and the impact of any changes on the operation of CMHTs.

METHOD

Data were collected as part of a national-level evaluation. The main means of collection was the semi-structured interview.

RESULTS

The study shows: that reform was underpinned by concerns about the workload of psychiatrists; and that while in principle the responsibilities of the psychiatrist were to be distributed across other team members, those in new roles felt themselves to be isolated.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the intentions of policy, the creation of the new roles did little to extend the idea of distributed responsibility in CMHTs.