Barriers to nurses performing physical assessments in rehabilitation care units: An observational study.

AIMS: To describe the perceived barriers to nurses performing physical assessments of patients in rehabilitation wards. Secondarily, to investigate how sociodemographic and professional characteristics influence the use and frequency of physical assessments by nurses and their perceptions of barriers to their practice. DESIGN: A multicentre, cross-sectional, observational study. METHODS: Data were collected from September to November 2020 among nurses working with inpatients in eight rehabilitation care institutions in French-speaking Switzerland. Instruments included the Barriers to Nurses' use of Physical Assessment Scale. RESULTS: Almost half of the 112 nurses who responded reported performing physical assessments regularly. The predominant perceived barriers to performing physical assessments were 'specialty area', 'lack of nursing role models' and 'lack of time and interruptions'. Greater clinical nursing experience in rehabilitation wards and more senior nurse specialist positions were associated with significantly lower use of physical assessment procedures by nurses. CONCLUSION: The present study revealed heterogeneity in the use of physical assessment by nurses practicing in rehabilitation units and highlighted their perceived barriers to this. IMPACT STATEMENT: Most nurses working in rehabilitation care units did not routinely perform physical assessments as part of their daily clinical practice. These results should raise stakeholders' awareness of this fact. Effective interventions to increase the use of physical assessments in nursing practice are to be recommended, including continuing education or hiring enough highly qualified nurses as role models in wards. This will promote quality of care and patient safety in rehabilitation care units. PUBLIC AND PATIENT ENGAGEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT: There was no patient or public involvement in the present study.

[Recommendations for the prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of addiction in the elderly]. / Recommandations pour la prévention, le diagnostic et la thérapie des addictions à l'âge avancé.

In old age, the chronic use of substances such as alcohol and sedatives, and more recently opioids, is a major public health and personal problem. Despite this, relatively little attention has been paid to the disorders associated with the use of these substances. These recommendations have been formulated by the Swiss Society for Elderly Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (SPPA) in collaboration with the Swiss Nurses' Association (SNA) and the Swiss Society for Addiction Medicine (SSAM). They provide a summary of the knowledge about addiction disorders in old age for the benefit of those working with patients, with the aim of strengthening prevention, early detection and appropriate interventions.

À l'âge avancé, la consommation chronique de substances comme l'alcool et les sédatifs, et plus récemment les opioïdes, représente un important problème pour les personnes concernées et de santé publique. Malgré cela, relativement peu d'attention a été accordée aux troubles associés à la consommation de ces substances. Les présentes recommandations ont été formulées par la Société suisse de psychiatrie et psychothérapie de la personne âgée (SPPA) en collaboration avec l'Association suisse des infirmières et infirmiers (ASI) et la Société suisse de médecine de l'addiction (SSMA). Elles mettent à la disposition des intervenants auprès des patients un résumé des connaissances au sujet des troubles addictifs à l'âge avancé, avec comme objectif de renforcer la prévention et le dépistage précoce, et des interventions adaptées.

Epidemiology of at-risk alcohol use and associated comorbidities of interest among community-dwelling older adults: a protocol for a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: There is little epidemiological evidence and knowledge about at-risk alcohol use among community-dwelling older adults and their chronic and acute alcohol-related comorbidities of interest. This systematic review will summarise and examine relevant studies about the epidemiology of at-risk alcohol use and associated comorbidities of interest in this population. METHODS: We will search the following databases, without language or date restrictions, from inception to 31 August 2019: Embase.com, Medline Ovid SP, Pubmed (NOT medline[sb]), CINAHL EBSCO, PsycINFO Ovid SP, Central-Cochrane Library Wiley and Web of Science (Core Collection). Search strategies will be developed in collaboration with a librarian. We will use predefined search terms for alcoholism, epidemiology, the elderly, living place and comorbidities of interest, as well as terms related to the identification of "measurements", "tools" or "instruments" for measuring harm from alcohol use. At-risk status will be determined by the amount of alcohol consumed and any comorbidities of interest associated with at-risk alcohol use, with the latter being documented separately or using an assessment tool for at-risk drinking. We will also examine the bibliographies of all the relevant articles found and search for unpublished studies. We will consider publications in all languages. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is necessary. Results will be presented in national and international conferences on addiction and published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018099965.