Advance Care Planning in the Nursing Home Setting: A Practice Improvement Evaluation.

This study evaluated a practice improvement initiative conducted over a 6 month period in 15 Canadian nursing homes. Goals of the initiative included: (1) use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model to improve advance care planning (ACP) within the sample of nursing homes; (2) investigate whether improved ACP practice resulted in a change in residents' hospital use and ACP preferences for home-based care; (3) engage participating facilities in regular data collection to inform the initiative and provide a basis for reflection about ACP practice and; (4) foster a team-based participatory care culture. The initiative entailed two cycles of learning sessions followed by implementation of ACP practice improvement projects in the facilities using a PDSA approach by participating clinicians (e.g., physicians, social workers, nurses). Clinicians reported significantly increased confidence in many dimensions of ACP activities. Rates of hospital use and resident preference for home-based care did not change significantly. The initiative established routine data collection of outcomes to inform practice change, and successfully engaged physicians and non-physician clinicians to work together to improve ACP practices. Results suggest recurrent PDSA cycles that engage a 'critical mass' of clinicians may be warranted to reinforce the standardization of ACP in practice.

How's Your Health at Home: Frail Homebound Patients Reported Health Experience and Outcomes.

We used a web-based mixed methods survey (HowsYourHealth - Frail) to explore the health of frail older (78% age 80 or older) adults enrolled in a home-based primary care program in Vancouver, Canada. Sixty per cent of eligible respondents participated, representing over one quarter (92/350, 26.2%) of all individuals receiving the service. Despite high levels of co-morbidity and functional dependence, 50 per cent rated their health as good, very good, or excellent. Adjusted odds ratios for positive self-rated health were 7.50, 95 per cent CI [1.09, 51.81] and 4.85, 95 per cent CI [1.02, 22.95] for absence of bothersome symptoms and being able to talk to family or friends respectively. Narrative responses to questions about end of life and living with illness are also described. Results suggest that greater focus on symptom management, and supporting social contact, may improve frail seniors' health.

24/7 Registered Nurse Staffing Coverage in Saskatchewan Nursing Homes and Acute Hospital Use.

RÉSUMÉ La législation, dans de nombreuses juridictions, nécessite les établissements des soins de longue durée (SLD) d'avoir une infirmière en service 24 heures par jour, 7 jours par semaine. Bien que la recherche considérable existe sur l'intensité SLD de la dotation en personnel infirmier, il n'existe pas de la recherche empirique relative à cette exigence. Notre étude rétrospectif d'observation a comparé des installations en Saskatchewan avec 24/7 RN couverture aux établissements offrant moins de couverture, complétées par divers modèles de dotation des postes de nuit. Les ratios de risque associés à moins de 24/7 couverture RN complété de la dotation infirmière autorisé de nuit, ajusté pour l'intensité de dotation en personnel infirmier et d'autres facteurs de confusion potentiels, étaient de 1,17, IC 95% [0,91, 1,50] et 1.00, IC à 95% [0,72, 1,39], et avec moins de couverture 24/7 RN complété avec soin par aides personnels de nuit, les ratios de risque étaient de 1,46, IC 95% [1,11, 1,91] et 1,11, IC 95% [0,78, 1,58], pour les patients hospitalisés et de visites aux services d'urgence, respectivement. Ces résultats suggèrent que l'utilisation des soins de courte durée peut être influencée négativement par l'absence de la couverture 24/7 RN.

Choosing your partner for the PROM: a review of evidence on patient-reported outcome measures for use in primary and community care.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are assessments of health status from the patient's perspective. The systematic and routine collection and use of PROMs in healthcare settings adds value in several ways, including quality improvement and service evaluation. We address the issue of instrument selection for use in primary and/or community settings. Specifically, from the large number of available PROMs, which instrument delivers the highest level of performance and validity? For selected generic PROMs, we reviewed literature on psychometric properties and other instrument features (e.g., health domains captured). Briefly we summarize key strengths of the three PROMs that received the most favourable psycho-metric and overall evaluation. The Short-Form 36 has a number of strengths, chiefly, its strong psychometric properties such as responsiveness. The PROMIS/Global Health Scale scored highly on most criteria and warrants serious consideration, especially as it is free to use. The EQ-5D scored satisfactorily on many criteria and, beneficially, it has a low response burden.