Nurses' Challenges to Developing Interpersonal Relationships During Integrated Care for Complex Patients.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with multimorbidity and complexity have multifaceted care needs requiring integrated and collaborative care from nurses, families, and health care teams. Nurses, as the frontline care professionals, should develop therapeutic relationships with patients and their families and professional relationships with health care team members to ensure the delivery of effective integrated care. Failure to develop effective interpersonal and professional relationships can negatively affect patient care. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore nurses' challenges with developing interpersonal and professional relationships during integrated care for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design was used. We interviewed a purposive sample of 19 nurses with experience of caring for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity across two hospitals in Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Two challenges were identified affecting the relationships between patients' families and nurses, and two challenges influencing the professional relationships within the team. Families withheld information, controlled care access of their relatives, posed unrealistic demands, and abused nurses, affecting nurse-family relationships. Power struggles to demonstrate authority in decision-making were common within health care teams, affecting nurses' professional capacity to provide effective care. CONCLUSIONS: Health care team, patient, and family collaboration is instrumental in improved care for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity. Nurse leaders and health care organizations should take initiatives to address nurses' interpersonal confrontations to support them in the provision of quality care.

Contribution of collegial support meetings (CSM) in the management of complex situations of patients with advanced cancer.

PURPOSE: Collegial support meetings (CSM) have been set up in the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center for inpatients whose complex care requires a multi-professional approach involving many participants: oncologists but also health-caregivers, a member of the palliative care team, an intensivist, and a psychologist. This study is aimed at describing the role of this newly multidisciplinary meeting implemented in a French Comprehensive Cancer Center. METHODS: Each week, the health-caregivers decide which situations should be examined, depending on the difficulty of a case. The discussion goes on to include the goal of treatment, the intensity of care, ethical and psychosocial issues, and the patient's life plan. Finally, to obtain feedback from the teams, a survey has been distributed to assess the interest in the CSM. RESULTS: In 2020, 114 inpatients were involved, and 91% were in an advanced palliative situation. During the CSMs, 55% of the discussions focused on whether to continue specific cancer treatment-29% about whether to continue invasive medical care-50% about optimizing supportive care. We estimate that between 65 and 75% of CSMs influenced further decisions. Death occurred during the hospitalization for 35% of the patients that were discussed. The lapse of time between last chemotherapy and death was 24 days (IQR, 28.5). CSMs were well received, since 80% of the teams find these meetings useful. CONCLUSIONS: CSMs reach conclusions for medical and nursing staff involved, in order to improve the management of inpatients with cancer in advanced palliative situation and to define the better goals of care.

Nurses' perceived barriers to the delivery of person-centred care to complex patients: A qualitative study using theoretical domains framework.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To determine nurses' perceived barriers to the delivery of person-centred care to complex patients with multiple chronic conditions in acute care settings. BACKGROUND: Complex patients have multiple physical and mental health problems, and their life is also greatly affected by sociocultural and economic determinants of health. These patients require person-centred care, but nurses often find it challenging to provide effective care to these patients due to their complex health needs. DESIGN: A descriptive qualitative design was used. The COREQ guidelines were followed for reporting. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 19 nurses in two hospitals. Data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework, which entails 14 domains about factors affecting behaviours. RESULTS: The key barriers were identified under environmental context and resources, social influences, emotions, knowledge and skills domains. Deep-rooted social issues delay patients' health-seeking and nurses' abilities to understand patients' needs and discern appropriate care. Interpersonal hostility influenced nurse-patient-families interactions, and doctor-nurses conflicts affected collaborative efforts towards optimal care. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses' perceived barriers to care were intertwined with the deep-rooted social and cultural beliefs about nurses' image, patients' expectations and families' preference for home remedies over specialised nursing care. These barriers to person-centred care demonstrate an intricate interplay of personal, social and organisational issues and power struggles. Multifaceted implementation strategies targeting environmental context and resources, social influences, emotions, knowledge and skills domains may be beneficial to enable nurses to provide better person-centred care to complex patients. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Designing implementation facilitation teams, organising person-centred care grand rounds, and allocation of stress management resources to address hostility, social-cultural influences, and organisational barriers is essential. Nurses could focus on their self-awareness and collaborative skills to address emotional and interprofessional conflicts.

An approach to interprofessional management of complex patients: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Complex patients are frequently high-users of health care resources. Case management has been demonstrated to be an effective and efficient approach for this demographic. CASE PRESENTATION: A 36-year old, medically complex male patient was referred to an interprofessional primary care team to optimize health status. Team involvement included a case manager, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, social worker, team assistant and chiropractor. Interventions involved medication management, smoking cessation, mindfulness skills and musculoskeletal treatment. SUMMARY: Complex patients are increasingly managed by teams. To continue, these teams will have to demonstrate positive outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Chiropractors have skills that can enhance team-based patient care.

INTRODUCTION: Les patients ayant des besoins complexes sont souvent ceux qui utilisent le plus les ressources en soins de santé. La gestion de cas s'est avérée être une approche efficace et efficiente pour ce groupe de personnes. PRÉSENTATION DE CAS: Un patient de 36 ans présentant des problèmes de santé complexes a été dirigé vers une équipe interprofessionnelle de soins primaires afin d'optimiser son état de santé. L'équipe comprenait un gestionnaire de cas, un infirmier praticien, un pharmacien, un travailleur social, un assistant d'équipe et un chiropraticien. Les interventions portaient sur la gestion des médicaments, l'abandon du tabac, les compétences liées à la pleine conscience et le traitement musculosquelettique. RÉSUMÉ: Les patients ayant des besoins complexes sont de plus en plus pris en charge par des équipes. Pour continuer à exercer, ces équipes devront démontrer des résultats positifs et un bon rapport coût-efficacité. Les chiropraticiens ont des compétences qui peuvent améliorer les soins aux patients dispensés en équipe.

'Eyes In The Home': ACOs Use Home Visits To Improve Care Management, Identify Needs, And Reduce Hospital Use.

Home visits are used for a variety of services and patient populations. We used national survey data from physician practices and accountable care organizations (ACOs), paired with qualitative interviews, to learn about home visiting programs. ACO practices were more likely to report using care transitions home visits than non-ACO practices were. Eighty percent of ACOs reported using home visits for some of their patients, with larger ACOs more commonly using home visits. Interviewed ACOs reported using home visits as part of care management and care transitions programs as well as to evaluate patients' home environments and identify needs. ACOs most often used nonphysician staff to conduct home visits. Home visit implementation for some types of patients can be challenging because of barriers related to reimbursement, staffing, and resources.

Which Complex Patients Should Be Referred for Intensive Care Management? A Mixed-Methods Analysis.

BACKGROUND: A large and increasing proportion of health care costs are spent caring for a small segment of medically and socially complex patients. To date, it has been difficult to identify which patients are best served by intensive care management. OBJECTIVE: To characterize factors that best identify which complex patients are most suited for intensive care management. DESIGN: We conducted a mixed-methods study involving 35 care managers (CMs; 10 licensed social workers and 25 registered nurses) working in intensive care management programs within Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) outpatient medical centers. We asked CMs to review a randomly selected list of up to 50 patients referred to them in the prior year and to categorize each patient as either (1) "good candidates" for care management, (2) "not needing" intensive care management, or (3) "needing more" than traditional care management could provide. We then conducted semi-structured interviews to understand how CMs separated patients into these three groups. RESULTS: CMs assigned 1178 patients into the 3 referral categories. Less than two thirds (62%, n = 736) of referred patients were considered good candidates, with 18% (n = 216) categorized as not needing care management and 19% (n = 226) as needing more. Compared to the other two categories, good candidates were older (76.2 years vs. 73.2 for not needing and 69.8 for needing more, p < 0.001), prescribed more medications (p = 0.02) and had more prior year outpatient visits (p = 0.04), while the number of prior year hospital and emergency room admissions were greater than not needing but less than needing more (p < 0.001). A logistic regression model using available electronic record data predicted good candidate designation with a c statistic of 0.75. Several qualitative themes emerged that helped define appropriateness for referral, including availability of social support, patient motivation, non-medical transitions, recent trajectory of medical condition, and psychiatric or substance use issues. CONCLUSION: Many apparently complex patients are not good candidates for intensive care management. Current electronic medical records do not capture several of the most salient characteristics that determine appropriateness for care management. Our findings suggest that systematic collection of social support, patient motivation, and recent non-medically related life change information may help identify which complex patients are most likely to benefit from care management.

What are the key elements for implementing intensive primary care? A multisite Veterans Health Administration case study.

Many integrated health systems and accountable care organizations have turned to intensive primary care programs to improve quality of care and reduce costs for high-need high-cost patients. How best to implement such programs remains an active area of discussion. In 2014, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented five distinct intensive primary care programs as part of a demonstration project that targeted Veterans at the highest risk for hospitalization. We found that programs evolved over time, eventually converging on the implementation of the following elements: 1) an interdisciplinary care team, 2) chronic disease management, 3) comprehensive patient assessment and evaluation, 4) care and case management, 5) transitional care support, 6) preventive home visits, 7) pharmaceutical services, 8) chronic disease self-management, 9) caregiver support services, 10) health coaching, and 11) advanced care planning. The teams also found that including social workers and mental health providers on the interdisciplinary teams was critical to effectively address psychosocial needs of these complex patients. Having a central implementation coordinator facilitated the convergence of these program features across diverse demonstration sites. In future iterations of these programs, VHA intends to standardize staffing and key features to develop a scalable program that can be disseminated throughout the system.