Lost and misplaced items and assistive devices in nursing homes: Identifying problems and technological opportunities through participatory design research.

INTRODUCTION: Modern healthcare, including nursing home care, goes together with the use of technologies to support treatment, the provision of care and daily activities. The challenges concerning the implementation of such technologies are numerous. One of these emerging technologies are location technologies (RTLS or Real-Time Location Systems). that can be utilized in the nursing home for monitoring the use and location of assets. METHODOLOGY: This paper describes a participatory design study of RTLS based on context mapping, conducted in two nursing home organizations. Rather than investigating the technological possibilities, this study investigates the needs and wishes from the perspective of the care professional. RESULTS: The study identified semantic themes that relate to the practicalities of lost and misplaced items in the nursing home, as well as latent themes that cover the wishes regarding technology in the nursing homes. The organizational culture and building typology may play a role in losing items. CONCLUSION: The participants in this study indicated that RTLS can provide a solution to some of the challenges that they encounter in the workplace. However, the implementation of new technologies should be done with care and should be integrated into existing ICT systems in order to minimize additional training and posing a burden on the workload.

Losing Items in the Psychogeriatric Nursing Home: The Perspective of Residents and Their Informal Caregivers.

Introduction: Losing items is a time-consuming occurrence in nursing homes that is ill described. An explorative study was conducted to investigate which items got lost by nursing home residents, and how this affects the residents and family caregivers. Method: Semi-structured interviews and card sorting tasks were conducted with 12 residents with early-stage dementia and 12 family caregivers. Thematic analysis was applied to the outcomes of the sessions. Results: The participants stated that numerous personal items and assistive devices get lost in the nursing home environment, which had various emotional, practical, and financial implications. Significant amounts of time are spent on trying to find items, varying from 1 hr up to a couple of weeks. Numerous potential solutions were identified by the interviewees. Discussion: Losing items often goes together with limitations to the participation of residents. Many family caregivers are reluctant to replace lost items, as these items may get lost again.

Peritoneal dialysis versus hemodialysis in patients with delayed graft function.

Delayed graft function (DGF) in kidney transplantation affects adverse outcomes. It remains unclear whether the post-transplant dialysis modality alters perioperative or long-term graft outcomes. We performed a retrospective observational quality initiative at two Canadian renal transplant centers, in which DGF occurred in the recipient, necessitating one of peritoneal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD). There was no difference in baseline factors between patients with post-transplant PD (n = 14) or HD (n = 63). The use of PD was associated with an increased risk of wound infection/leakage (PD 5/14 vs. HD 6/63, p = 0.024), shorter length of hospitalization (13.7 vs. 18.7 d, p = 0.009) and time requiring dialysis post-operatively (6.5 vs 11.0 d, p = 0.043). There were no differences in readmission to hospital within 6 months (4/14 vs. 23/63, p = 0.759), graft loss (0/14 vs. 2/63, p = 1.000) or acute rejection episodes (1/14 vs. 4/63, p = 1.000) at one yr, and GFR did not differ between the PD or HD groups at 30 d (35.7 vs. 33.8 mL/min/m(2), p = 0.731), six months (46.9 vs. 45.5 mL/min/m(2), p = 0.835) or one yr (46.6 vs. 44.5 mL/min/m(2), p = 0.746). Further research is needed to determine which transplant patients are most appropriate to undergo PD catheter removal at the time of transplantation.

Impact of the educational resource one life many gifts on attitudes of secondary school students towards organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Increased awareness of organ donation/transplantation has been found to have a positive influence on organ donation rates. One Life … Many Gifts is a curriculum resource in Ontario, Canada, to educate and raise awareness for senior secondary school students about the importance of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Teachers administered pre- and post- attitudinal surveys to senior secondary school students to evaluate changes in their attitudes toward organ and tissue donation and transplantation. In this study, the effect of the One Life … Many Gifts educational intervention on changing the attitudes and awareness of organ donation and transplantation of senior secondary students was assessed. METHODS: Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the pre- and post-surveys as a whole and then again for the data from individual schools. Kruskal-Wallis H-tests were used to compare data between schools. RESULTS: A total of 1832 pre- and 1440 post-educational surveys returned to Trillium Gift of Life Network were assessed in the 2008-2009 academic year. Overall, comparison of all pre- and post-educational program survey data showed significant improvement in the students' attitudes toward organs and tissue donation and transplantation (P = .00625). CONCLUSION: The One Life … Many Gifts program made an impact on changing the attitudes toward and awareness of organ donation among high school students in Ontario. Evaluation of its impact on donor registration and organ donation among the students and their parents is complex and remains to be seen.