Palliative (farewell) culture in shared housing arrangements : The perspective of everyday nursing practice.

BACKGROUND: Shared housing arrangements (SHA) are alternatives to long-term care facilities for care-dependent people. The collective perspective of nursing professionals working in SHA in dealing with death and dying is missing in recent studies. This study aimed to investigate the perspective of professionals concerning a palliative (farewell) culture in SHA. METHODS: In this study two group discussions were conducted with nurses and nursing assistants working in SHA. Data were analyzed using the documentary method, with the aim of working out the professional orientation framework concerning a collective palliative culture. RESULTS: Nurses enable a palliative (farewell) culture. This leads to the fact that hospice services are not used in these SHA. The distance to relatives as well as a short dying process or incomplete dying support can make a successful palliative culture difficult. Depending on the conscious assumption of responsibility for a palliative culture in the nursing concept of SHA, death and dying are discussed at an early stage with the relatives and care-dependent people. DISCUSSION: The constantly progressing palliative culture in SHA is based on nurses' experiences, general practitioners (GP) and relatives. The family carers' role is ambiguous. If they do what they are supposed to do from the professional nurses' point of view and are closely connected to the nurses, they are viewed positively and as enablers of a palliative culture. If family carers' responsibilities are not communicated and they are not in close contact with professional nurses, they are viewed as opponents of a palliative culture. The GPs are seen as enablers of a palliative culture in both discussions. A timely discussion on what might happen in the end of life phase, formalized or not, helps all involved groups to be prepared.

Introducing virtual reality to older adults: A qualitative analysis of a co-design innovation with care staff.

Previous studies of Virtual Reality (VR) in aged care settings have demonstrated that the benefits can be multiple, including improved social connection and engagement and reduced social isolation in later life. However, there remains a lack of widespread uptake of VR in aged care facilities. This prompts an important question: Given the potential benefits, why is there such poor engagement in VR by aged care facilities? The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the experience of introducing VR into an aged care facility. Our innovative approach supported care staff to introduce VR into aged care facilities. Fieldwork diaries and focus group discussions were used to document experiences of introducing VR, including the obstacles, challenges and benefits and the adaptations to aged care environments that were required to accommodate new VR activities. Thematic analysis of the data revealed that VR can be an important medium to support the wellbeing of older residents. However, our findings also indicate that there are significant challenges associated with introducing VR, including substantial costs in time, money and institutional resources and attention. This study concludes that, to be successful, VR requires substantive care and relational resources from both staff and residents that are only visible when paying attention to the contextual adjustments required to introduce the technology to a new setting. This suggests that other research on gerontechnologies would likely also benefit from further attention to the role of the broader social context - including care and relational resources - in ensuring their successful design and implementation.

Utilising a 'Community of Practice' to support pharmacists to work in residential aged care: protocol for a longitudinal evaluation.

INTRODUCTION: A Community of Practice is briefly defined as a group of people with a shared interest in a given area of practice who work collaboratively to grow collective knowledge. Communities of Practice have been used to facilitate knowledge exchange and improve evidence-based practice. Knowledge translation within the residential aged care sector is lacking, with barriers such as inadequate staffing and knowledge gaps commonly cited. In Australia, a Federal inquiry into residential aged care practices led to a recommendation to embed pharmacists within residential aged care facilities. Onsite practice in aged care is a new role for pharmacists in Australia. Thus, support is needed to enable pharmacists to practice in this role.The primary aim is to evaluate the processes and outcomes of a Community of Practice designed to support pharmacists to work in aged care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A longitudinal, single-group, pretest-post-test design in which the intervention is a Community of Practice. The Community of Practice will be established and made available for 3 years to all Australian pharmacists interested in, new to or established in aged care roles. The Community of Practice will be hosted on online discussion platforms, with additional virtual meetings and annual symposia. The following data will be collected from all members of the Community of Practice: self-evaluation of the processes and outcomes of the Community of Practice (via the CoPeval scale) and confidence in evidence-based practice (EPIC scale), collected via online questionnaires annually; and discussion platform usage statistics and discussion transcripts. A subset of members will be invited to participate in annual semi-structured individual interviews.Data from the online questionnaire will be analysed descriptively. Discussion transcripts will be analysed using topic modelling and content analysis to identify the common topics discussed and their frequencies. Qualitative data from individual interviews will be thematically analysed to explore perceptions and experiences with the intervention for information/knowledge exchange, impact on practice, and sharing/promoting/implementing evidence-based practice. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Human ethics approval has been granted by the University of Western Australia's Human Ethics Committee (2023/ET000000). No personal information will be included in any publications and reports to funding bodies.Findings will be disseminated to all members of the Community of Practice, professional organisations, social and mass media, peer-review journals, research and professional conferences and annual reports to the funding body.

The impact of facility and staff characteristics on infection control of COVID-19: Perceptions of elder care home managers in Stockholm, Sweden.

AIM: To examine the perceptions of managers of elder care homes on the impact of facility and staff characteristics on infection control of COVID-19. DESIGN: Case study. METHODS: Six purposively sampled care home managers in the city of Stockholm were interviewed. Through content analysis, three categories and nine subcategories were identified. RESULTS: According to the interviewed care home managers, a home-like environment that allows for isolation of residents and possibilities for staff to get changed and store personal protective equipment outside each resident's room was considered ideal. Experienced employees were reported as invaluable when facing an infectious outbreak. A mix of permanent and temporary staff was considered essential although some thought that temporary staff who work in multiple care homes might negatively influence the spread of infection. Language barriers among staff were considered an obstacle when trying to disseminate information.

Reform and reverberation: Australian aged care policy changes and the unintended consequences for allied health.

INTRODUCTION: Allied health has a valuable role in providing services to people living in residential aged care. The recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety included several important recommendations relating to the nursing, personal care, and allied health workforce and the care that they provide. The purpose of this paper is to review these recommendations and the Australian Government's policy responses and explore the emerging changes in allied health service provision in residential aged care. METHODS: Data from the four available Quarterly Financial Reports from the 2022-2023 financial year were extracted and analysed in relation to staff costs and time per person per day across personal care, nursing, and allied health workers. Supplementary data sources including the 2020 Aged Care Workforce Census were accessed to provide contextual data relating to individual allied health professions, including occupational therapy. RESULTS: The analysis shows a modest increase in median registered nurse minutes per person per day, and cost per person per day, from the first to second quarter, and again in the third and fourth. By contrast, median time and cost for allied health declined. From 5.6 minutes per person per day in the first quarter, reported allied health minutes fell to 4.6 minutes per person per day in the second quarter, an 18% decrease, and by the fourth quarter was 4.3 minutes per person per day. This is just over half the Australian average of 8 minutes reported to the RCACQS in 2019. CONCLUSION: Under recent residential aged care reforms, aged care providers have regulatory incentives to concentrate their financial resources on meeting the mandated care hours for registered nurses, enrolled nurses, personal care workers, and assistants in nursing. These same reforms do not mandate minutes of allied health services. Although providers of residential aged care in Australia continue to employ and value allied health, we argue that mandating care minutes for personal and nursing care without mandating the provision of allied health creates a perverse incentive whereby access to allied health services is unintentionally reduced.

[Determinants of the implementation of telemedicine in nursing homes: A qualitative analysis from Schleswig-Holstein]. / Determinanten der Implementierung von Telemedizin in Pflegeeinrichtungen: eine qualitative Analyse aus Schleswig-Holstein.

BACKGROUND: During the restrictions on human contact in the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes made a great effort to allow relatives, doctors and other persons involved in the care to communicate with residents. For this purpose, the HLTeleheim project offered a practical telemedical support option. This offer was accepted and implemented in a heterogeneous way. The aim of this study was to detect factors that have an influence on the implementation of telemedical applications in long-term care facilities. METHODS: As part of a qualitative evaluation approach, guideline-centered interviews (n=17) were conducted with nurses, doctors and administrative staff from the facilities invited to participate in the project. These interviews were then transcribed and anonymized. The evaluation was carried out according to Mayring's qualitative analysis. The code system was created deductively and inductively. Two independently working persons analyzed the interviews. RESULTS: While a high demand for applications of telemedicine in nursing care was seen in the run-up to the project, considerable barriers emerged during the implementation, and acceptance among the interviewees was mixed. The nurses regarded the regular use of telemedicine as being rather unimportant for their work. Technical and organizational problems were seen as barriers by the interviewees, which partly limited the use of telemedicine applications. Compatibility among the applications used was seen as a prerequisite of effective use. Unstable internet connection was an important limiting determinant. It turned out that consultations were used for communication within the team. DISCUSSION: Although the advantages of video consultations are being recognized among nursing staff, they are still little used. In order to promote the use of telemedicine applications, it is important to repeatedly point out their individual advantages in internal and external communication. Another approach to further implementation, in addition to financial and technical aspects, is to directly address the nursing profession in the software products to be used. CONCLUSION: The implementation of telemedicine applications in long-term care facilities faces structural barriers, such as insufficient internet coverage and a lack of billing options, as well as personal hurdles, such as a low affinity for technology and a lack of knowledge on the subject of telemedicine.

A pre-post study of pharmacist-led medication reviews within a hospital-based residential aged care support service.

BACKGROUND: Hospital-based residential aged-care support service teams typically consist of doctors and nurses who provide hospital substitutive care to aged-care residents. There is limited literature evaluating the pharmacist's role in such aged-care support teams. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the effect of residential aged-care support service pharmacist-led medication reviews on polypharmacy, drug burden index, potentially inappropriate medications, and potential prescribing omissions for aged-care residents. METHODS: Residents referred to a residential aged-care support service pharmacist for medication review over a 12-month period were included. The pharmacist communicated medication-related problems and recommendations to the resident's general practitioner and residential aged-care support service medical practitioner. Residents' medication histories were obtained at baseline and one-month postintervention. The number of medications and their associated drug burden indices were compared using paired t-tests; potentially inappropriate medications and potential prescribing omissions were compared using Wilcoxon's signed rank test. KEY FINDINGS: Of 175 residents (mean age 84 years) referred for pharmacist-led medication review, 146 had postintervention evaluation after one-month (median 29 days). Mean number of medications reduced from 12.47 at baseline to 11.84 postintervention (mean difference (95% CI): 0.63(0.33-0.93), P < .001). Mean drug burden index score reduced from 1.54 at baseline to 1.37 postintervention (mean difference (95% CI): 0.17(0.10-0.24), P < .001). More residents experienced a decrease in inappropriate medications (median (IQR) pre: 2(1-3), post: 1(0-2), P < .001) and prescribing omissions (median (IQR) pre: 0(0-1), post: 0(0-0), P = .003) compared with those that had an increase. CONCLUSIONS: Medication reviews performed by pharmacists embedded in hospital-based residential aged-care support services may improve medication prescribing. Further research into such preventative health service models is required.

Strategies to Improve Emergency Transitions From Long-Term Care Facilities: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Older adults residing in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) often experience substandard transitions to emergency departments (EDs) through rationed and delayed ED care. We aimed to identify research describing interventions to improve transitions from RACFs to EDs. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In our scoping review, we included English language articles that (a) examined an intervention to improve transitions from RACF to EDs; and (b) focused on older adults (≥65 years). We employed content analysis. Dy et al.'s Care Transitions Framework was used to assess the contextualization of interventions and measurement of implementation success. RESULTS: Interventions in 28 studies included geriatric assessment or outreach services (n = 7), standardized documentation forms (n = 6), models of care to improve transitions from RACFs to EDs (n = 6), telehealth services (n = 3), nurse-led care coordination programs (n = 2), acute-care geriatric departments (n = 2), an extended paramedicine program (n = 1), and a web-based referral system (n = 1). Many studies (n = 17) did not define what "improvement" entailed and instead assessed documentation strategies and distal outcomes (e.g., hospital admission rates, length of stay). Few authors reported how they contextualized interventions to align with care environments and/or evaluated implementation success. Few studies included clinician perspectives and no study examined resident- or family/friend caregiver-reported outcomes. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Mixed or nonsignificant results prevent us from recommending (or discouraging) any interventions. Given the complexity of these transitions and the need to create sustainable improvement strategies, future research should describe strategies used to embed innovations in care contexts and to measure both implementation and intervention success.

[Advance care planning in nursing homes: scoping review]. / Planificación anticipada de cuidados en residencias de mayores: revisión narrativa.

Advance care planning is a deliberative process that aims to help patients define goals and preferences for future care and treatment at a times when they have limited decision-making capacity. This study aims to analyze models of advance care planning in elderly individuals living in nursing homes. We reviewed papers published in Cochrane, PubMed and Embase. A total of 26 studies were selected, including a total of 44,131 people over 65 years of age. We analyzed the types of intervention (interviews, videos, workshops, documentation, etc.) and their results derived from the application. We conclude that no study implements a standardized intervention model. These interventions include decision-making (transfers to hospital, resucitation orders) and the adequacy of therapeutic effort (antibiotherapy, nutrition, serotherapy, etc.). Other outcomes are implementation barriers (time and training).

Dementia, nurse staffing, and health outcomes in nursing homes.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate and contrast the relationships between nurse staffing and health outcomes in nursing homes with low and high dementia census, to understand the association of staffing hours with dementia care quality. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: A national sample of nursing homes during 2017-2019 (pre-COVID). Data included the Payroll-Based Journal, Medicare Claims, Nursing Home Care Compare, and Long-Term Care Focus. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, regression analyses. We estimated separate linear models predicting six long-term facility-level outcomes. Independent variables included staffing hours per resident-day (HPRD) interacted with the facility percentage of dementia residents, controlling for other resident and facility characteristics. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Hospital-based nursing homes, those with fewer than 30% dementia residents, and missing data were excluded. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that registered nurses and certified nurse assistants HPRDs were likely to exhibit positive returns in terms of outcomes throughout most of the range of HPRD for both high and low-census dementia facilities, although, high- and low-dementia facilities differed in most outcome rates at all staffing levels. Average predicted antipsychotics and activities of daily living as functions of HPRD were worse in higher dementia facilities, independent movement, and hospitalizations did not differ significantly, and Emergency Rooms and pressure sores were worse in lower dementia facilities. Average marginal effects were not statistically different [CI included zero] between the high and low dementia facilities for any outcome. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that increasing staffing will improve outcomes by similar increments in both low- and high-dementia facilities for all outcomes. However, at any given level of staffing, absolute differences in outcomes between low- and high-dementia facilities remain, suggesting that additional staffing alone will not suffice to close these gaps. Further studies are required to identify opportunities for improvement in performance for both low- and high-dementia census facilities.

[The role of the health executive with the residents in Ehpad]. / Le rôle du cadre de santé auprès des résidents en Ehpad.

The personalized quality support for residents of residential establishments for dependent elderly people, specified in the law of January 2, 2002, is implemented through various tools and regular evaluations. The health executive, as the central link in the chain, has a key role to play in carrying out these actions, which are part of a continuous quality improvement process.

Airborne Infection Control Practices in Homes for the Aged in the Context of Tuberculosis Elimination.

BACKGROUND: National Strategic Plan to End tuberculosis (TB) in India 2020-2025 aims to prevent the emergence of TB in susceptible populations. Airborne infection control (AIC) practices in high-risk settings like homes for the aged (HFA) will be essential to achieve this. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to assess the AIC practices (AICPs) in HFA in the Kollam district in Kerala, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mixed method approach was used. the study was done in five HFA s in a southern district of Kerala to find AICPs. Using purposive sampling, in-depth interviews was conducted among inmates with recent respiratory infection and administrators. Environmental measures were assessed using an observation checklist. RESULTS: Ventilation was inadequate in 25%-40% of HFA. Air change per hour and distance between beds were less. Very few inmates were aware of the need for proper ventilation and personal hygiene. Wearing masks and hand hygiene was not practiced. Administrators faced shortages of space, funds, and human resources for caring for hospitalized inmates, and psychiatric and terminally ill patients. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to train the staff and inmates on AIC. Infrastructural improvements, like the use of partition screens in the short term and the creation of model airborne infection control HFA in the long run, with a collaborative effort from health professionals and architects, are needed for TB elimination efforts to succeed.

Cobertura vacinal contra covid-19 em instituições de longa permanência para idosos / Cobertura vacunal contra covid-19 en instituciones de larga estancia para personas mayores / Covid-19 vaccination coverage in long-term institutions for the elderly

Objetivo: analisar a cobertura vacinal contra COVID-19 em Instituições de Longa Permanência para idosos. Método: estudo transversal com dados agregados fornecidos pela Comissão Intersetorial de Acompanhamento das Instituições de Longa Permanência da Bahia. Foram incluídas as instituições identificadas em Salvador, Bahia, Brasil, com pelo menos um residente idoso (60 ou mais anos) que responderam ao inquérito de vacinação realizado entre maio a julho de 2021. Resultados: a amostra foi composta por 83 estabelecimentos, com predomínio de instituições privadas (50,1%) e filantrópicas (32,5%). A cobertura vacinal da COVID-19 atingiu 94,7% dos idosos residentes e 75,2% dos trabalhadores. Conclusão: o estudo mostra alta cobertura vacinal em idosos residentes nestas instituições, porém, menor cobertura entre os trabalhadores. A maximização da cobertura vacinal entre os cuidadores e residentes é fundamental, devido à extrema vulnerabilidade da população idosa institucionalizada à COVID-19.

Objetivo: analizar la cobertura vacunal contra COVID-19 en Instituciones de Larga Permanencia para ancianos. Método: estudio transversal con datos agregados proporcionados por la Comisión Intersectorial de Seguimiento de las Instituciones de Larga Permanencia de Bahía. Se incluyeron las instituciones identificadas en Salvador, Bahía, Brasil, con al menos un residente de edad avanzada (60 o más años) que respondieron a la encuesta de vacunación realizada entre mayo y julio de 2021. Resultados: la muestra fue compuesta por 83 establecimientos, con predominio de instituciones privadas (50,1%) y filantrópicas (32,5%). La cobertura vacunal de COVID-19 alcanzó el 94,7% de los ancianos residentes y el 75,2% de los trabajadores. Conclusión: el estudio muestra alta cobertura vacunal en ancianos residentes en estas instituciones, sin embargo, menor cobertura entre los trabajadores. La maximización de la cobertura vacunal entre cuidadores y residentes es fundamental debido a la extrema vulnerabilidad de la población de edad avanzada institucionalizada a COVID-19.

Objective to analyze vaccination coverage against COVID-19 in long-term care institutions for the elderly. Method: cross-sectional study with aggregated data provided by the Intersectoral Monitoring Commission of Long-Term Institutions of Bahia. We included the institutions identified in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, with at least one elderly resident (60 years or older) who responded to the vaccination survey conducted between May and July 2021. Results: the sample consisted of 83 establishments, with a predominance of private (50.1%) and philanthropic (32.5%) institutions. Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 reached 94.7% of elderly residents and 75.2% of workers. Conclusion: the study shows high vaccination coverage in elderly residents of these institutions, but lower coverage among workers. Maximizing vaccination coverage among caregivers and residents is essential, due to the extreme vulnerability of the elderly population institutionalized to COVID-19.

Mealtime interventions and their outcomes in care homes for older people considering the five aspects meal model: An integrative review.

Mealtimes are important events in care homes for physical and social well-being. However, residents usually have little input concerning meal timings, what food is offered, and how it is served. This integrative review explored mealtime interventions and their outcomes in care homes related to the Five Aspects Meal Model (FAMM). Research articles published 2010-2021 were searched for in ASSIA, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, and SveMed+ and resulted in 13 articles focusing on interventions. The analysis was based on the aspects of FAMM: room, meeting, product, management control system, and atmosphere. The result shows that even though interventions specifically focused on one aspect, they often evaluated outcomes related to several aspects. Different aspects can work together to foster effective mealtimes. FAMM eased to visualise the usefulness of mealtime interventions from a broad perspective and can be a useful tool for assessing and improving mealtime situations in clinical practice.

Pro-active monitoring and social interventions at community level mitigate the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic on older adults' mortality in Italy: A retrospective cohort analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 epidemic in Italy has severely affected people aged more than 80, especially socially isolated. Aim of this paper is to assess whether a social and health program reduced mortality associated to the epidemic. METHODS: An observational retrospective cohort analysis of deaths recorded among >80 years in three Italian cities has been carried out to compare death rate of the general population and "Long Live the Elderly!" (LLE) program. Parametric and non-parametric tests have been performed to assess differences of means between the two populations. A multivariable analysis to assess the impact of covariates on weekly mortality has been carried out by setting up a linear mixed model. RESULTS: The total number of services delivered to the LLE population (including phone calls and home visits) was 34,528, 1 every 20 day per person on average, one every 15 days during March and April. From January to April 2019, the same population received one service every 41 days on average, without differences between January-February and March-April. The January-April 2020 cumulative crude death rate was 34.8‰ (9,718 deaths out of 279,249 individuals; CI95%: 34.1-35.5) and 28.9‰ (166 deaths out of 5,727 individuals; CI95%:24.7-33.7) for the general population and the LLE sample respectively. The general population weekly death rate increased after the 11th calendar week that was not the case among the LLE program participants (p<0.001). The Standardized Mortality Ratio was 0.83; (CI95%: 0.71-0.97). Mortality adjusted for age, gender, COVID-19 weekly incidence and prevalence of people living in nursing homes was lower in the LLE program than in the general population (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: LLE program is likely to limit mortality associated with COVID-19. Further studies are needed to establish whether it is due to the impact of social care that allows a better clients' adherence to the recommendations of physical distancing or to an improved surveillance of older adults that prevents negative outcomes associated with COVID-19.

Protection against COVID-19 in long-term care facilities and political and technical foundations for operation in Brazil / A proteção em lares de idosos perante a COVID-19 e os fundamentos políticos e técnicos de funcionamento no Brasil

Objective: that aimed to highlight and discuss the contributions of public policies and resolutions to the protection of older people in the qualification of Long Term Care Facilities in Brazil in the face of COVID-19. Method: This is a qualitative document analysis study. Data were collected between August and September 2021 from government websites and the Virtual Health Library database. Results: We analyzed resolutions 216/2004 up to the most recently published resolutions 502/2021, technical notes, and public policies for the older population published between 1994 and 2021, including people residing in long-term care facilities in Brazil. Our analysis indicated that, in order to operate the apparatus of protection and care, councils and Society need to fulfill their roles, aiming at the dignity and quality of life of residents of long-term care facilities. The discussion was conducted in light of the political framework and technical foundations that guide the operation of these facilities. Conclusion: This study highlights the relevance, value, and quality of the area of gerontology, specifically for reflecting on public policies and resolutions so that we have the necessary guidelines for elaborating policies for the long-term care and protection of the health of older adults, which includes a wide discussion on collective housing/lon-term care institutions.

Objetivo: evidenciar e discutir as contribuições para a proteção das pessoas mais velhas frente à COVID-19 a partir das políticas públicas e das Resoluções da Diretoria Colegiada na qualificação das "instituições de longa permanência" no Brasil. Método: Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo do tipo análise documental. A coleta de dados ocorreu de agosto a setembro de 2021 em sites governamentais e nos bancos de dados da Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde. Resultados: Foram analisadas as Resoluções da Diretoria Colegiada 216/2004 até a última publicação, a Resolução da Diretoria Colegiada 502/2021 e as notas técnicas, assim como as políticas públicas para idosos no período de 1994 a 2021 que contemplavam as pessoas residentes em lares de idosos no Brasil. A análise indicou que, para se colocar em prática o aparato de proteção e cuidados, os Conselhos e a sociedade também precisam cumprir com suas funções, visando à dignidade e à qualidade de vida dos residentes em instalações de cuidado de longa permanência. A discussão desenvolveu-se à luz do arcabouço político e dos fundamentos técnicos que orientam o funcionamento dessas instalações. Conclusões: O artigo apontou a relevância, o valor e a qualidade para a área da gerontologia, especificamente para a reflexão sobre as políticas públicas e Resoluções da Diretoria Colegiada para que se tenha as balizas necessárias para a elaboração da política de longa permanência e proteção à saúde dos idosos, o que inclui ampla discussão sobre habitação coletiva/instituições de longa permanência.

Multifactorial falls prevention programme compared with usual care in UK care homes for older people: multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial with economic evaluation.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the clinical and cost effectiveness of a multifactorial fall prevention programme compared with usual care in long term care homes. DESIGN: Multicentre, parallel, cluster randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Long term care homes in the UK, registered to care for older people or those with dementia. PARTICIPANTS: 1657 consenting residents and 84 care homes. 39 were randomised to the intervention group and 45 were randomised to usual care. INTERVENTIONS: Guide to Action for Care Homes (GtACH): a multifactorial fall prevention programme or usual care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measure was fall rate at 91-180 days after randomisation. The economic evaluation measured health related quality of life using quality adjusted life years (QALYs) derived from the five domain five level version of the EuroQoL index (EQ-5D-5L) or proxy version (EQ-5D-5L-P) and the Dementia Quality of Life utility measure (DEMQOL-U), which were self-completed by competent residents and by a care home staff member proxy (DEMQOL-P-U) for all residents (in case the ability to complete changed during the study) until 12 months after randomisation. Secondary outcome measures were falls at 1-90, 181-270, and 271-360 days after randomisation, Barthel index score, and the Physical Activity Measure-Residential Care Homes (PAM-RC) score at 91, 180, 270, and 360 days after randomisation. RESULTS: Mean age of residents was 85 years. 32% were men. GtACH training was delivered to 1051/1480 staff (71%). Primary outcome data were available for 630 participants in the GtACH group and 712 in the usual care group. The unadjusted incidence rate ratio for falls between 91 and 180 days was 0.57 (95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.71, P<0.001) in favour of the GtACH programme (GtACH: six falls/1000 residents v usual care: 10 falls/1000). Barthel activities of daily living indices and PAM-RC scores were similar between groups at all time points. The incremental cost was £108 (95% confidence interval -£271.06 to 487.58), incremental QALYs gained for EQ-5D-5L-P was 0.024 (95% confidence interval 0.004 to 0.044) and for DEMQOL-P-U was 0.005 (-0.019 to 0.03). The incremental costs per EQ-5D-5L-P and DEMQOL-P-U based QALY were £4544 and £20 889, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The GtACH programme was associated with a reduction in fall rate and cost effectiveness, without a decrease in activity or increase in dependency. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN34353836.