A qualitative study of leaders' experiences of handling challenges and changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in rural nursing homes and homecare services.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on healthcare services globally. In care settings such as small rural nursing homes and homes care services leaders were forced to confront, and adapt to, both new and ongoing challenges to protect their employees and patients and maintain their organization's operation. The aim of this study was to assess how healthcare leaders, working in rural primary healthcare services, led nursing homes and homecare services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study sought to explore how adaptations to changes and challenges induced by the pandemic were handled by leaders in rural nursing homes and homecare services. METHODS: The study employed a qualitative explorative design with individual interviews. Nine leaders at different levels, working in small, rural nursing homes and homecare services in western Norway were included. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the thematic analysis: "Navigating the role of a leader during the pandemic," "The aftermath - management of COVID-19 in rural primary healthcare services", and "The benefits and drawbacks of being small and rural during the pandemic." CONCLUSIONS: Leaders in rural nursing homes and homecare services handled a multitude of immediate challenges and used a variety of adaptive strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. While handling their own uncertainty and rapidly changing roles, they also coped with organizational challenges and adopted strategies to maintain good working conditions for their employees, as well as maintain sound healthcare management. The study results establish the intricate nature of resilient leadership, encompassing individual resilience, personality, governance, resource availability, and the capability to adjust to organizational and employee requirements, and how the rural context may affect these aspects.

A resilience perspective on healthcare personnels' experiences of managing the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in Norwegian nursing homes and come care services.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to new and unfamiliar changes in healthcare services globally. Most COVID-19 patients were cared for in primary healthcare services, demanding major adjustments and adaptations in care delivery. Research addressing how rural primary healthcare services coped during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possible learning potential originating from the pandemic is limited. The aim of this study was to assess how primary healthcare personnel (PHCP) working in rural areas experienced the work situation during the COVID-19 outbreak, and how adaptations to changes induced by the pandemic were handled in nursing homes and home care services. METHOD: This study was conducted as an explorative qualitative study. Four municipalities with affiliated nursing homes and homecare services were included in the study. We conducted focus group interviews with primary healthcare personnel working in rural nursing homes and homecare services in western Norway. The included PHCP were 16 nurses, 7 assistant nurses and 2 assistants. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in three main themes and 16 subthemes describing PHCP experience of the work situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they adapted to the changes and challenges induced by the pandemic. The main themes were: "PHCP demonstrated high adaptive capacity while being put to the test", "Adapting to organizational measures, with varying degree of success" and "Safeguarding the patient's safety and quality of care, but at certain costs". CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated PHCPs major adaptive capacity in response to the challenges and changes induced by the covid-19 pandemic, while working under varying organizational conditions. Many adaptations where long-term solutions improving healthcare delivery, others where short-term solutions forced by inadequate management, governance, or a lack of leadership. Overall, the findings demonstrated the need for all parts of the system to engage in building resilient healthcare services. More research investigating this learning potential, particularly in primary healthcare services, is needed.

Nursing home leaders' and nurses' experiences of resources, staffing and competence levels and the relation to hospital readmissions - a case study.

BACKGROUND: Thirty-day hospital readmissions represent an international challenge leading to increased prevalence of adverse events, reduced quality of care and pressure on healthcare service's resources and finances. There is a need for a broader understanding of hospital readmissions, how they manifest, and how resources in the primary healthcare service may affect hospital readmissions. The aim of the study was to examine how nurses and nursing home leaders experienced the resource situation, staffing and competence level in municipal healthcare services, and if and how they experienced these factors to influence hospital readmissions. METHOD: The study was conducted as a comparative case study of two municipalities affiliated with the same hospital, chosen for historical differences in readmission rates. Nurses and leaders from four nursing homes participated in focus groups and interviews. Data were analyzed within and across cases. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in four common themes, with some variation in each municipality, describing nurses' and leaders' experience of the nursing home resource situation, staffing level and competence and their perception of factors affecting hospital readmissions. The nursing home patients were described as becoming increasingly complex with a subsequent need for increased nurse competence. There was variation in competence and staffing between nursing homes, but capacity building was an overall focus. Economic limitations and attempts at saving through cost-cutting were present, but not perceived as affecting patient care and the availability of medical equipment. Several factors such as nurse competence and staffing, physician coverage, and adequate communication and documentation, were recognized as factors affecting hospital readmissions across the municipalities. CONCLUSION: Several factors related to nurses' and leaders' experience of the resource situation, staffing and competence level were suggested to affect hospital readmissions and the municipalities were similar in their answers regarding these factors. Patients were perceived as more complex with higher patient mortality forcing long-term nursing homes to shift towards an acute care or palliative function, and short-term nursing homes to function as "small hospitals", requiring higher nurse competence. Staffing, competence and physician coverage did not seem to have adjusted to the new patient group in some nursing homes.

Exploring physicians' decision-making in hospital readmission processes - a comparative case study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital readmissions is an increasingly serious international problem, associated with higher risks of adverse events, especially in elderly patients. There can be many causes and influential factors leading to hospital readmissions, but they are often closely related, making hospital readmissions an overall complex area. In addition, a comprehensive coordination reform was introduced into the Norwegian healthcare system in 2012. The reform changed the premises for readmissions with economic incentives enhancing early transfer from secondary to primary care, making research on readmissions in the municipalities more urgent than ever. General practitioners (GPs) and nursing home physicians, have traditionally held a gatekeepers function in hospital readmissions from the municipal healthcare service, as they are the main decision-makers in questions of hospital readmissions. Still, the GPs' gatekeeper function is an under-investigated area in hospital readmission research. The aim of the study was to increase knowledge about factors that lead to hospital readmissions among elderly in municipal healthcare, with special attention to GPs' and nursing home physicians' decision making. METHOD: The study was conducted as a comparative case study. Two municipalities affiliated with the same hospital, but with different readmission rates were recruited. Twenty GPs and nursing home physicians from each municipality were recruited and interviewed. Forty hours of observation were conducted during the huddles in one long-term and one short-term nursing home in each municipality. RESULTS: Seven themes describing how different factors influence physicians' decision-making in the hospital readmission process in two municipalities were identified. Poor communication, continuity and information flow account for hospital readmissions in both municipalities. Several factors, including nurse staffing and competence, patients and their families, time constraints and experience affected physicians' decision-making. CONCLUSION: Communication, continuity and information flow contributed to hospital readmissions in both municipalities. The cross-case analysis revealed slight differences between municipalities. More research focusing on GPs' and nursing home physicians' decision-making, nursing home nurses and home care nurses' experience of hospital readmissions and discharges is needed.