Servicing the Senior Swallow: A Family-Centered Private Practice Model of Service Delivery

Author(s):  
Yvette M. McCoy

Purpose Person-centered care shifts the focus of treatment away from the traditional medical model and moves toward personal choice and autonomy for people receiving health services. Older adults remain a priority for person-centered care because they are more likely to have complex care needs than younger individuals. Even more specifically, the assessment and treatment of swallowing disorders are often thought of in terms of setting-specific (i.e., acute care, skilled nursing, home health, etc.), but the management of dysphagia in older adults should be considered as a continuum of care from the intensive care unit to the outpatient multidisciplinary clinic. In order to establish a framework for the management of swallowing in older adults, clinicians must work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team using current evidence to guide clinical practice. Private practitioners must think critically not only about the interplay between the components of the evidence-based practice treatment triad but also about the broader impact of dysphagia on caregivers and families. The physical health and quality of life of both the caregiver and the person receiving care are interdependent. Conclusion Effective treatment includes consideration of not only the patient but also others, as caregivers play an important role in the recovery process of the patient with swallowing disorders.

2021 ◽  
pp. 073346482110236
Author(s):  
Kallol Kumar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Jennifer Craft Morgan ◽  
Elisabeth O. Burgess

A person-centered approach to care shifts the mind-set of care partners from a traditional medical model to a social model in managing chronic conditions. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, this study examines the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of person-centered care (PCC) and how the integration of complementary and alternative approaches (CAA) has the potential to improve residents’ quality of life in nursing homes (NHs). Findings indicate that NHs offer a wide range of engagement activities, but these activities are not purposefully integrated into a person-centered plan of care. Factors such as turnover, “working short,” supervisor support, and rising resident care needs make it challenging to implement PCC in NHs. This knowledge of the landscape of activities will help us identify and improve strategies for supporting residents at a deeper, more meaningful level. CAA has the potential to be therapeutic for residents if integrated into collaborative approaches to care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 17-17
Author(s):  
Yifan Lou ◽  
Nan Jiang ◽  
Katherine Ornstein

Abstract Background: Quality of life (QoL) during last stage of life has raised expanded interests as an important aspect of person-centered care. Last place of care (LPC), refer to the last place decedents received their formal end-of-life care (EOLC), has been identified as a key indicator of older adults’ end-of-life QoL, but the relationship was understudied. This study explores the association between LPC and end-of-life QoL among American older adults. Methods: Data used seven waves of Last Month of Life data with a total sample of 3068 Medicare decedents in NHATS. Outcome is end-of-life QoL assessed by eleven measures on four domains: pain and symptoms management (SP), quality of healthcare encounter (HE), person-centered care (PC), and overall quality of care (QC). LPC was categorized into home, hospital, nursing home, and residential hospice. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship with covariates. Results: LPC varied by most demographic characteristics, except immigration status and education. Older adults whose LPC is hospital, compared to those who had home-care, were less likely to have great experiences on HE, PC, and QC. People dying at nursing homes are more likely to receive care meeting their dyspnea and spiritual needs. Residential hospice is negatively related to respected care, clear coordination, and keeping family informed, but are more likely to provide PS and spiritual care. Discussion: Home-based end-of-life care has certain advantages but still has room to improve on SP and religious concerns. Hospitals should keep reforming their service delivery structure to improve patients’ QoL.


10.2196/17855 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. e17855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Gustavell ◽  
Kay Sundberg ◽  
Ann Langius-Eklöf

Background Pancreatic and periampullary cancers are rare but have high mortality rates. The only hope for cure is surgical removal of the tumor. Following pancreatic surgery, the patients have a great deal of responsibility for managing their symptoms. Patients report a lack of sufficient knowledge of self-care and unmet supportive care needs. This necessitates a health care system responsive to these needs and health care professionals who pay close attention to symptoms. Person-centered care is widely encouraged and means a shift from a model in which the patient is the passive object of care to a model involving the patient as an active participant in their own care. To address the challenges in care following pancreatic cancer surgery, an interactive app (Interaktor) was developed in which patients regularly report symptoms and receive support for self-care. The app has been shown to reduce patients’ symptom burden and to increase their self-care activity levels following pancreaticoduodenectomy due to cancer. Objective The aim of the study was to describe how patients used the Interaktor app following pancreaticoduodenectomy due to cancer and their experience with doing so. Methods A total of 115 patients were invited to use Interaktor for 6 months following pancreaticoduodenectomy. Of those, 35 declined, 8 dropped out, and 46 did not meet the inclusion criteria after surgery, leaving 26 patients for inclusion in the analysis. The patients were instructed to report symptoms daily through the app for up to 6 months following surgery. In case of alerting symptoms, they were contacted by their nurse. Data on reported symptoms, alerts, and viewed self-care advice were logged and analyzed with descriptive statistics. Also, the patients were interviewed about their experiences, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results The patients’ median adherence to symptom reporting was 82%. Fatigue and pain were the most reported symptoms. Alerting symptoms were reported by 24 patients, and the most common alert was fever. There were variations in how many times the patients viewed the self-care advice (range 3-181 times). The most commonly viewed advice concerned pancreatic enzyme supplements. Through the interviews, the overarching theme was “Being seen as a person,” with the following 3 sub-themes: “Getting your voice heard,” “Having access to an extended arm of health care,” and “Learning about own health.” Conclusions Interaktor proved to be well accepted. It made patients feel reassured at home and offered support for self-care. The app facilitated person-centered care by its multiple features targeting individual supportive care needs and enabled participation in their own care. This supports our recent studies showing that patients using the app had less symptom burden and higher self-care activity levels than patients receiving only standard care.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Steele Gray ◽  
Terence Tang ◽  
Alana Armas ◽  
Mira Backo-Shannon ◽  
Sarah Harvey ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Older adults with multimorbidity and complex care needs (CCN) are among those most likely to experience frequent care transitions between settings, particularly from hospital to home. Transition periods mark vulnerable moments in care for individuals with CCN. Poor communication and incomplete information transfer between clinicians and organizations involved in the transition from hospital to home can impede access to needed support and resources. Establishing digitally supported communication that enables person-centered care and supported self-management may offer significant advantages as we support older adults with CCN transitioning from hospital to home. OBJECTIVE This protocol outlines the plan for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Digital Bridge co-designed to support person-centered health care transitions for older adults with CCN. The Digital Bridge builds on the foundation of two validated technologies: Care Connector, designed to improve interprofessional communication in hospital, and the electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO) tool, designed to support goal-oriented care planning and self-management in primary care settings. This project poses three overarching research questions that focus on adapting the technology to local contexts, evaluating the impact of the Digital Bridge in relation to the quadruple aim, and exploring the potential to scale and spread the technology. METHODS The study includes two phases: workflow co-design (phase 1), followed by implementation and evaluation (phase 2). Phase 1 will include iterative co-design working groups with patients, caregivers, hospital providers, and primary care providers to develop a transition workflow that will leverage the use of Care Connector and ePRO to support communication through the transition process. Phase 2 will include implementation and evaluation of the Digital Bridge within two hospital systems in Ontario in acute and rehab settings (600 patients: 300 baseline and 300 implementation). The primary outcome measure for this study is the Care Transitions Measure–3 to assess transition quality. An embedded ethnography will be included to capture context and process data to inform the implementation assessment and development of a scale and spread strategy. An Integrated Knowledge Translation approach is taken to inform the study. An advisory group will be established to provide insight and feedback regarding the project design and implementation, leading the development of the project knowledge translation strategy and associated outputs. RESULTS This project is underway and expected to be complete by Spring 2024. CONCLUSIONS Given the real-world implementation of Digital Bridge, practice changes in the research sites and variable adherence to the implementation protocols are likely. Capturing and understanding these considerations through a mixed-methods approach will help identify the range of factors that may influence study results. Should a favorable evaluation suggest wide adoption of the proposed intervention, this project could lead to positive impact at patient, clinician, organizational, and health system levels. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04287192; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04287192 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT PRR1-10.2196/20220


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233372142110418
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Saunders ◽  
Tara McMullen ◽  
Sonya Barsness ◽  
Andrew Carle ◽  
Gay Powell Hanna

The national response to the COVID-19 pandemic pressed gerontologists to reflect, redesign, and reform services supporting older adults. Efforts to isolate a peer cohort to stabilize and maintain a standard of health had adverse outcomes and added pressure conflicting with autonomy and individual desires. In this, person-centered care emerges as a meaningful archetype to address dignity and independence. This article presents views from academics and practitioners across an interdisciplinary spectrum, arising from a webinar hosted by Georgetown University Program in Aging & Health. A description of personhood as an extension of the humanities is followed by a robust discussion of safety and autonomy for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine the necessary commute between critical gerontological theory and the practice of humanistic gerontology. Further, this article disentangles humanism and person-centered care to balance autonomy and safety for older adults in congregate living situations and focuses on specific populations: people with dementia and their care partners. Discussion on the importance of person-centered policy development in a public health pandemic is also explored. The article concludes with a call to action for the adoption of a comprehensive person-centered care model across the fields of gerontology and geriatric medicine.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. CMED.S12231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Hackel

Purpose This paper serves to apply and compare aspects of person centered care and recent consensus guidelines to two cases of older adults with poorly controlled diabetes in the context of relatively similar multimorbidity. Methods After review of the literature regarding the shift from guidelines promoting tight control in diabetes management to individualized person centered care, as well as newer treatment approaches emerging in diabetes care, the newer guidelines and potential treatment approaches are applied to the cases. Results By delving into the clinical, behavioral, social, cultural and economic aspects of the two cases in applying the new guidelines, divergent care goals are reached for the cases. Conclusions Primary care practitioners must be vigilant in providing individualized diabetes treatment where multiple chronic illnesses increase the complexity of care. While two older adults with multimorbidity may appear at first to have similar care goals, their unique preferences and support systems, as well as their risks and benefits from tight control, must be carefully weighed in formulating the best approach. Newer pharmaceutical agents hold promise for improving the possibilities for better glycemic control with less self-care burden and risk of hypoglycemia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 3471-3494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Uittenbroek ◽  
Antoinette D. I. van Asselt ◽  
Sophie L. W. Spoorenberg ◽  
Hubertus P. H. Kremer ◽  
Klaske Wynia ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document