scholarly journals RF1-A How Empowering Is Hospital Care for Older Adults, and What Difference Does Palliative Care Make? A Cross-National Ethnography in England, Ireland and the USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. e5
Author(s):  
Lucy Ellen Selman ◽  
Barbara Daveson ◽  
Melinda Smith ◽  
Bridget Johnston ◽  
Karen Ryan ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
pp. 001789692110341
Author(s):  
Madeline Carbery ◽  
Samantha Schwartz ◽  
Nicole Werner ◽  
Beth Fields

Background: The care partners of hospitalised older adults often feel dissatisfied with the education and skills training provided to them, resulting in unpreparedness and poor health outcomes. Objective: This review aimed to characterise and identify gaps in the education and skills training used with the care partners of older adults in the hospital. Methods: We conducted a scoping review on the education and skills training practices used with the care partners of hospitalised older adults in the USA via sources identified in the PubMed, PsychINFO and CINAHL databases. Results: Twelve studies were included in this review. Results illustrate that nurses utilise multiple modes of delivery and frequently provide education and skills training tailored to the needs of care partners at the latter end of hospital care. The provision of education and skills training varies greatly, however, including who provides education, in what way information is conveyed, and how care partner outcomes are measured. Conclusion: This is the first scoping review to describe and synthesise the education and skills training practices used with care partners of hospitalised older adults. Findings highlight the need for education and skills training to be interprofessional, tailored to individual care partners’ needs and begin at, or even before, the hospital admission of older adult patients.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e025692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corita R Grudzen ◽  
Deborah J Shim ◽  
Abigail M Schmucker ◽  
Jeanne Cho ◽  
Keith S Goldfeld

IntroductionEmergency department (ED)-initiated palliative care has been shown to improve patient-centred outcomes in older adults with serious, life-limiting illnesses. However, the optimal modality for providing such interventions is unknown. This study aims to compare nurse-led telephonic case management to specialty outpatient palliative care for older adults with serious, life-limiting illness on: (1) quality of life in patients; (2) healthcare utilisation; (3) loneliness and symptom burden and (4) caregiver strain, caregiver quality of life and bereavement.Methods and analysisThis is a protocol for a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel, two-arm randomised controlled trial in ED patients comparing two established models of palliative care: nurse-led telephonic case management and specialty, outpatient palliative care. We will enrol 1350 patients aged 50+ years and 675 of their caregivers across nine EDs. Eligible patients: (1) have advanced cancer (metastatic solid tumour) or end-stage organ failure (New York Heart Association class III or IV heart failure, end-stage renal disease with glomerular filtration rate <15 mL/min/m2, or global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease stage III, IV or oxygen-dependent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); (2) speak English; (3) are scheduled for ED discharge or observation status; (4) reside locally; (5) have a working telephone and (6) are insured. Patients will be excluded if they: (1) have dementia; (2) have received hospice care or two or more palliative care visits in the last 6 months or (3) reside in a long-term care facility. We will use patient-level block randomisation, stratified by ED site and disease. Effectiveness will be compared by measuring the impact of each intervention on the specified outcomes. The primary outcome will measure change in patient quality of life.Ethics and disseminationInstitutional Review Board approval was obtained at all study sites. Trial results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberNCT03325985; Pre-results.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjinnov-2020-000557
Author(s):  
Sharon Rikin ◽  
Eric J Epstein ◽  
Inessa Gendlina

IntroductionAt the early epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis in the USA, our institution saw a surge in the demand for inpatient consultations for areas impacted by COVID-19 (eg, infectious diseases, nephrology, palliative care) and shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE). We aimed to provide timely specialist input for consult requests during the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing an Inpatient eConsult Programme.MethodsWe used the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance implementation science framework and run chart analysis to evaluate the reach, adoption and maintenance of the Inpatient eConsult Programme compared with traditional in-person consults. We solicited qualitative feedback from frontline physicians and specialists for programme improvements.ResultsDuring the study period, there were 46 available in-person consult orders and 21 new eConsult orders. At the peak of utilisation, 42% of all consult requests were eConsults, and by the end of the study period, utilisation fell to 20%. Qualitative feedback revealed subspecialties best suited for eConsults (infectious diseases, nephrology, haematology, endocrinology) and influenced improvements to the ordering workflow, documentation, billing and education regarding use.DiscussionWhen offered inpatient eConsult requests as an alternative to in-person consults in the context of a surge in patients with COVID-19, frontline physicians used eConsult requests and decreased use of in-person consults. As the demand for consults decreased and PPE shortages were no longer a major concern, eConsult utilisation decreased, revealing a preference for in-person consultations when possible.ConclusionsLessons learnt can be used to develop and implement inpatient eConsults to meet context-specific challenges at other institutions.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Hyunjin Noh ◽  
Lewis H. Lee ◽  
Chorong Won

Abstract Objective Lack of palliative care knowledge among caregivers may pose an access barrier for cognitively impaired older adults, who may benefit from the specialized care. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of an educational intervention in improving palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of cognitively impaired older adults. Method Using a one-group, pre- and post-test intervention design, this study implemented an individual, face-to-face educational intervention with an informational brochure for 43 informal caregivers of chronically or seriously ill older adults (50+) with cognitive impairment, recruited from communities in West Alabama. Their level of knowledge about palliative care was assessed by the Palliative Care Knowledge Scale (PaCKS). The pre- and post-test scores were compared by the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, and the racial subgroup (Whites vs. Blacks) comparison was made by the Mann–Whitney U test. Results There was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores (z = 5.38, p < 0.001), indicating a statistically significant effect of the educational intervention in improving palliative care knowledge among participants. There was a significant difference (U = 143, p < 0.05) between Whites and Blacks in the pre-test, which, however, disappeared in the post-test (U = 173.50, p > 0.05), suggesting that the amount of increased PaCKS scores were significantly greater for Blacks (Mdn = 9.50) than for Whites (Mdn = 4.00, U = 130.50, p < 0.05). Significance of results This study demonstrated that a one-time educational intervention can improve the level of palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of chronically or seriously ill older adults with cognitive impairment, particularly among Black caregivers. Therefore, further educational efforts can be made to promote palliative care knowledge and reduce racial disparities in palliative care knowledge and its use.


Author(s):  
Sou Hyun Jang ◽  
Emily V R Brown ◽  
Eun Jeong Lee ◽  
Linda K Ko

Abstract Asian Americans have the lowest rate of awareness about hypertension, including controlled hypertension, among all racial/ethnic groups in the USA. A high proportion of Asian American older adults have limited English proficiency (LEP) and hypertension. This study adapted the Check. Change. Control. (CCC) program, a community-based intervention for hypertension control delivered in a face-to-face group setting, to phone-based delivery and evaluated the acceptability of the program among Asian American older adults with LEP. Thirteen participants received phone-based educational sessions on hypertension control over 4 months. After 4 months of interventions, we interviewed the 13 Asian American older adults and 4 counselors to examine the acceptability of the adapted CCC program. Both Asian American older adults and counselors found the phone-based delivery of the CCC program to be acceptable, and some participants recommended holding an in-person meeting before telephone delivery to review the program content and clarify information. Future study needs to explore the effectiveness of the phone-based delivery of the program on blood pressure management among larger groups of Asian American older adults.


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