Effects of care of multimorbid patients in general practices by advanced practice nurses (FAMOUS): study protocol for a nonrandomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity is a common phenomenon among patients treated in general practices. Key challenges within this group include functional difficulties, polypharmacy, treatment burden, fragmentation of care, reduced quality of life and increased health care utilization. These problems cannot be solved in the short consultation time of a general practitioner (GP) since there is an increasing shortage of GPs. In many countries, advanced practice nurses (APNs) are successfully integrated into primary health care for multimorbid patients. The objective of this study is to examine whether the integration of APNs in the primary care of multimorbid patients in Germany leads to optimized care of the target group and to a reduction in the workload of the GPs. METHODS: The intervention includes the integration of APNs into the care for multimorbid patients in general practice for twelve months. Qualifications for APNs include a master's level academic degree and 500 hours of project-specific training. Their tasks include in-depth assessment, preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a person-centred and evidence-based care plan. In this nonrandomized controlled trial, a prospective multicentre mixed methods study will be performed. The main inclusion criterion was the cooccurrence of three chronic diseases. For data collection in the intervention group (n = 817), routine data from health insurance companies and association of statutory health insurance physicians (ASHIP) will be used, as well as qualitative interviews. In addition, the intervention will be assessed through documentation of the care process and standardized questionnaires using a longitudinal design. The control group (n = 1634) will receive standard care. For the evaluation, routine data from health insurance companies are matched at a ratio of 1:2. Outcomes will be measured using emergency contacts and GP visits, treatment costs, health status of the patients and the satisfaction of parties involved. The statistical analyses will include Poisson regression to compare outcomes between the intervention and control groups. Descriptive and analytical statistical methods will be used in the longitudinal analysis of the intervention group data. Cost analysis will compare total costs and subgroup costs between the intervention and control groups. Qualitative data will be analysed using content analysis. DISCUSSION: Challenges to this protocol could include the political and strategic environment as well as the planned number of participants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS00026172 on DRKS.

Antecedents of unfinished nursing care: a systematic review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Unfinished Nursing Care (UNC) concept, that express the condition when nurses are forced to delay or omit required nursing care, has been largely investigated as tasks left undone, missed care, and implicit rationing of nursing care. However, no summary of the available evidence regarding UNC antecedents has been published. The aim of this study is to identify and summarise antecedents of UNC as documented in primary studies to date. METHODS: A systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was conducted. MEDLINE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, and PROSPERO databases were searched for quantitative studies reporting the relationships between antecedents and UNC published after 2004 up to 21 January 2020. The reference lists of secondary studies have been scrutinised to identify additional studies. Two reviewers independently identified studies and evaluated them for their eligibility and disagreements were resolved by the research team. The quality appraisal was based on the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools, according to the study designs. A data extraction grid was piloted and then used to extract data. The antecedents that emerged were thematically categorised with an inductive approach. RESULTS: Fifty-eight studies were included; among them, 54 were cross-sectional, three were cohort studies, and one was a quasi-experimental study. They were conducted mainly in the United States and in hospital settings. The UNC antecedents have been investigated to date at the (a) unit (e.g., workloads, non-nursing tasks), (b) nurse (e.g., age, gender), and (c) patient levels (clinical instability). CONCLUSIONS: At the unit level, it is highly recommended to provide an adequate staff level, strategies to deal with unpredictable workloads, and to promote good practice environments to reduce or minimise UNC. By contrast, at the nurse and patient levels, there were no clear trends regarding modifiable factors that could decrease the occurrence of UNC. The map of antecedents that emerged can be used to design interventional studies aimed at changing research from merely descriptive to that which evaluates the effectiveness of interventions.

A systematic review: Unfinished nursing care and the impact on the nurse outcomes of job satisfaction, burnout, intention-to-leave and turnover.

AIM: To investigate the association of unfinished nursing care on nurse outcomes. DESIGN: Systematic review in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, ProQuest and Scopus databases were searched up until April 2020. REVIEW METHODS: Two independent reviewers conducted each stage of the review process: screening eligibility, quality appraisal using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool; and data extraction. Narrative synthesis compared measurements and outcomes. RESULTS: Nine hospital studies were included, and all but one were cross-sectional multicentre studies with a variety of sampling sizes (136-4169 nurses). Studies had low internal validity implying a high risk of bias. There was also a high potential for bias due to non-response. Only one study explicitly sought to examine nurse outcomes as a primary dependent variable, as most included nurse outcomes as mediating variables. Of the available data, unfinished nursing care was associated with: reduced job satisfaction (5/7 studies); burnout (1/3); and intention-to-leave (2/2). No association was found with turnover (2/2). CONCLUSION: Unfinished nursing care remains a plausible mediator of negative nurse outcomes, but research is limited to single-country studies and self-reported outcome measures. Given challenges in the sector for nurse satisfaction, recruitment and retention, future research needs to focus on nurse outcomes as a specific aim of inquiry in relation to unfinished nursing care. IMPACT: Unfinished nursing care has previously been demonstrated to be associated with staffing, education and work environments, with negative associations with patient outcomes (patient satisfaction, medication errors, infections, incidents and readmissions). This study offers new evidence that the impact of unfinished nursing care on nurses is under investigated. Policymakers can prioritize the funding of robust observational studies and quasi-experimental studies with a primary aim to understand the impact of unfinished nursing care on nurse outcomes to better inform health workforce sustainability.

Missed nursing care as experienced by undergraduate nursing students.

Background: In clinical settings where missed nursing care prevails, nursing students' instructions, supervision and the joint reflection on clinical practice with mentors are also affected and nursing students become involved in dealing with missed nursing care. AIM: To explore the experience of missed nursing care in clinical placements, its meaning for nursing students, and actions they considered or took. METHODS: Qualitative study based on a content analysis of nursing students' written reports. Nursing students in three universities in Germany with experience of at least one clinical practice placement were invited to participate. Online, they answered three open questions concerning missed nursing care focusing on: (1) experiences of the phenomenon, (2) its meaning and (3) actions that had been considered or taken when dealing with missed nursing care. A content analysis was performed. RESULTS: The recruitment criteria were met by 69 nursing students. Four main themes and 20 sub-themes were identified. The reports covered all forms of missed nursing care. Becoming involved led to intrapersonal conflicts and, feelings of powerlessness but also to learning opportunities. It challenged professional and ethical standards. Students identified a broad spectrum of actions to answer the challenge. CONCLUSION: Dealing with missed nursing care creates opportunities and challenges for nursing students. To build up a well-trained and sustainable nursing workforce, learning environments for nursing students must reflect the challenges and counteract deficits.

Interventions to prevent or reduce rationing or missed nursing care: A scoping review.

AIMS: To collate and synthesize published research on interventions developed and tested to prevent or reduce the rates of rationed or missed nursing care in healthcare institutions. BACKGROUND: Rationed and missed nursing care has been widely studied, including its predictors and associations with patient and nurse outcomes. DESIGN: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES: We searched for eligible studies, published between 1980-2019, in six electronic databases. REVIEW METHODS: Researchers independently screened the abstracts of the retrieved studies using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The decision of whether or not to include any given study was consensus-based. RESULTS: The search yielded 1,815 records, of which 13 were included. Three studies reported structural interventions, namely increased nurse staffing and improved nursing teamwork, both resulted in significant reductions in the rates of rationed or missed nursing care. The remaining 10 studies reported on process interventions: four concerned reminders (via technology or designated persons) and seven described interventions to change or optimize the relevant care processes. All 10 process interventions contributed to significant reductions in the rates of missed nursing care. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the scoping review indicate that specific interventions can positively influence the performance of a selected nursing care activity, for example fall prevention. There is no evidence of a global reduction of rationed and missed nursing care through these interventions. IMPACT: Clinicians, managers and researchers can use the results for adapting and implementing interventions to reduce rationed and missed nursing care.

Strategies to prevent missed nursing care: An international qualitative study based upon a positive deviance approach.

AIM: To identify the strategies to prevent missed nursing care (MNC) that can be implemented by nurse managers/directors on a daily basis. BACKGROUND: Only few recommendations have been established to date aiming at supporting nurse managers/ directors in preventing MNC. However, several strategies are implemented on a daily basis, suggesting that a body of tacit, practical and wise knowledge is already in place. METHOD(S): An international qualitative descriptive study based on the positive deviance approach conducted in 2019-2020 and reported according to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. A purposeful sample of 35 nurse managers/directors working in hospitals in Cyprus, Italy, Germany and Switzerland was involved. Codes were extracted from each country, and a thematic analysis was performed at the transnational level to identify strategies and interventions preformed to prevent MNC. RESULTS: Eight strategies and 22 interventions, mainly with preventive intent and designed at the hospital level, affecting both the processes and the structural dimensions, have been reported as effective in preventing MNC. CONCLUSION: Nurse leaders are involved daily in implementing strategies to minimise MNC at the nursing and at the hospital system levels, integrated with each other. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Preventing MNC should be a core value of the entire hospital, and not merely a nursing issue. Therefore, complex interventions at the system level are required.

[Effective interventions enacted by Nurse Managers in daily practice to prevent and/or minimize the missed nursing care: ?ndings from an Italian qualitative study]. / Interventi attuati da infermieri con ruoli manageriali nella pratica quotidiana per prevenire e minimizzare le Missed Nursing Care: risultati di uno studio qualitativo italiano.

INTRODUCTION: Missed Nursing Care is widely recognized as affecting patient safety and healthcare outcomes. Theoretical frameworks, antecedents and consequences have been extensively studied while interventions aimed at preventing the Missed Nursing Care remain little investigated to date. Nurse Managers and Nurse Directors play a main role in promoting interventions at the unit, hospital and at the policy levels. However, few evidences are available to date, thus limiting an evidence-based approach. The aim of this study was to emerge interventions used on a daily basis by Nurse Managers and Directors to prevent and/or minimize Missed Nursing Care. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study design based upon a positive deviance approach was adopted. Twelve Nurse Managers and Nurse Directors were purposefully selected, working at Hospital, Healthcare Trust or Nursing Home levels, in Italy. Participants were interviewed in two focus group sessions. A thematic analysis of the audio-recorded interviews was performed by two researchers. RESULTS: The following interventions have been reported as effective in preventing and/or minimizing the Missed Nursing Care: (a) Expanding the nursing care capacity; (b) Ensuring the standard of care and an early detection of failures; (c) Monitoring the processes of care; (d) Promoting a shared decision-making; (e) Redesigning the layout of the hospital systems; (f) Promoting a culture towards the Missed Nursing Care prevention, and (g) Realigning the nurse management to the care of patients. DISCUSSION: Several interventions based mainly on process dimension and with preventive intents are daily enacted by Nurse Managers and Directors to prevent and/or minimize Missed Nursing Care. Measuring the effect of these interventions through rigorous studies could help in expanding the evidence available to contrast a phenomenon that threatens patient safety.

[Individual activation of dementia sufferers in a home setting : A randomized controlled study]. / Einzelaktivierung von Menschen mit Demenz im häuslichen Setting : Eine randomisierte kontrollierte Studie.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present project investigated the hypothesis that a multimodal individual activation of people with mild to moderate dementia in the home setting during a 6-month intervention period leads to improved everyday practice and cognitive abilities compared to the control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Intervention: a practical activation was performed by relatives 6 days per week. Cognitive stimulation took place once a week and was done by an external person. The relatives were trained and counselled by project staff. EVALUATION: a multicentric randomized controlled trial (RCT) with total sample size of 72 participants suffering from dementia with a mini-mental state test (MMST) ≤24 and ≥12. Of the participants 36 were in the intervention group and 36 in the control group: intervention and follow-up periods each took 6 months. Primary outcome variables: activities of daily living (ADL) abilities (E-ADL test) and cognitive abilities (ADAS-Cog); secondary outcome variables: care dependency scale (PAS) and geriatric symptoms including instrumental abilities (NOSGER scale incl. IADL-test), quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) and stress for the informal caregivers scale (HPS). The evaluation was carried out as a pre-post analysis (t0/t1/t2) using comparison of means for the differences between the pretest and posttest values. RESULTS: After the end of the 6­month intervention period (t1), there were positive effects on the ADL skills of people with mild dementia (Cohens d = 0.37) but no effects on the ADL skills of people with moderate dementia (Cohens d = 0.00). In terms of cognitive abilities, mild effects (Cohens d = 0.26) were found in people with moderate dementia but not in mild dementia (Cohens d = 0.04). The results are not significant. Caring dependency results in a non-significant effect in mild dementia (Cohens d = 0.33) and a significant effect in moderate dementia (Cohens d = 0.87, p = 0.025, Mann-Whitney U­test). The NOSGER subscale social behavior showed a strong significant effect in moderately severe dementia (Cohens d = 1.03, p = 0.013) but 6 months after the end of the intervention (t2) these effects were no longer detectable. With respect to the activating relatives no effects could be detected. CONCLUSION: The hypothesis could not be confirmed. Since the target sample size was not reached, significant results were not expected. Nevertheless, the calculation of the effect sizes provides indications of possible effects of multimodal activation.

Non-pharmacological, multicomponent group therapy in patients with degenerative dementia: a 12-month randomizied, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Currently available pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments have shown only modest effects in slowing the progression of dementia. Our objective was to assess the impact of a long-term non-pharmacological group intervention on cognitive function in dementia patients and on their ability to carry out activities of daily living compared to a control group receiving the usual care. METHODS: A randomized, controlled, single-blind longitudinal trial was conducted with 98 patients (follow-up: n = 61) with primary degenerative dementia in five nursing homes in Bavaria, Germany. The highly standardized intervention consisted of motor stimulation, practice in activities of daily living, and cognitive stimulation (acronym MAKS). It was conducted in groups of ten patients led by two therapists for 2 hours, 6 days a week for 12 months. Control patients received treatment as usual. Cognitive function was assessed using the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog), and the ability to carry out activities of daily living using the Erlangen Test of Activities of Daily Living (E-ADL test) at baseline and after 12 months. RESULTS: Of the 553 individuals screened, 119 (21.5%) were eligible and 98 (17.7%) were ultimately included in the study. At 12 months, the results of the per protocol analysis (n = 61) showed that cognitive function and the ability to carry out activities of daily living had remained stable in the intervention group but had decreased in the control patients (ADAS-Cog: adjusted mean difference: -7.7, 95% CI -14.0 to -1.4, P = 0.018, Cohen's d = 0.45; E-ADL test: adjusted mean difference: 3.6, 95% CI 0.7 to 6.4, P = 0.015, Cohen's d = 0.50). The effect sizes for the intervention were greater in the subgroup of patients (n = 50) with mild to moderate disease (ADAS-Cog: Cohen's d = 0.67; E-ADL test: Cohen's d = 0.69). CONCLUSIONS: A highly standardized, non-pharmacological, multicomponent group intervention conducted in a nursing-home setting was able to postpone a decline in cognitive function in dementia patients and in their ability to carry out activities of daily living for at least 12 months. TRIAL REGISTRATION: http://www.isrctn.com Identifier: ISRCTN87391496.

The Erlangen Test of Activities of Daily Living: first results on reliability and validity of a short performance test to measure fundamental activities of daily living in dementia patients.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of an easily applicable performance test for making valid measurements of fundamental activities of daily living (ADL) in dementia patients, this study reports the development of an ADL performance test which constitutes both a reliable and a valid measurement of the relevant autonomous areas of everyday activities for dementia patients. METHODS: The Erlangen Test of Activities of Daily Living (E-ADL-Test) consists of five items: pouring a drink, cutting a piece of bread, opening a small cupboard, washing hands and tying a bow. Each test item underwent standardized evaluation on a scale of 0 to 6. To determine retest reliability each assessment was repeated at two-weekly intervals. The Global Deterioration Scale, Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and Nurses' Observations Scale for Geriatric Patients (NOSGER) were used to assess construct validity. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was applied. Forty-six patients (42 women and 4 men) with clinically diagnosed dementia, who were resident in nursing homes, took part in the validation study. Their average age was 86. RESULTS: The E-ADL-Test revealed good inter-individual differentiation ability, particularly in cases of moderate to severe dementia. Cronbach's alpha was 0.77, retest reliability 0.73. The correlation coefficients were -0.47 with GDS, 0.60 with NOSGER and 0.72 with MMSE. CONCLUSIONS: The E-ADL-Test is a suitable performance test for measuring activities of daily living as it is easy to use, reliable, valid and well accepted.

[Clinical pathways: a way to integrate a standardized treatment and patient-orientation?]. / Klinische Behandlungspfade: Ein Weg zur Integration von standardisierter Behandlungsplanung und Patientenorientierung?

The implementation of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) as the payment system for hospital work requires to optimise the processes and the use of resources while maintaining the quality of care. To achieve these goals hospitals implement clinical pathways. The systematic structure of these pathways was developed in the industrial context during the 1950s. This history led to the assumption that a process begins and ends in a previously-planned most linear motion. This assumption creates various problems. First of all, the conditions of the situation and the individual's personal needs are ignored. Both aspects are relevant for the quality of care as well as for the calculation of the expenditures. Another problem is the disregard of communicative understanding, the core of nursing. As a result of these problems, the contradictory goals satisfying the rationale and communicative needs conflict. This situation creates the risk of the functional-orientated orders of the clinical pathways determining the relationship between the nurse and the patient. The next risk is that the patient will only be a marginal part of the process. In addition, the nurses may loose their caring competence. Despite these arguments, the use of clinical pathways can be well supported. For the pathway to be successful, the stipulation that remains important is for the system to allow flexibility. To achieve this flexibility, one must utilize assessment instruments. The steps of the intervention process have to be guided by the results of the assessment along with the outcome. The art of professional nursing should successfully combine the clinical pathway with the patient's individual needs.