scholarly journals Needs and availability of medical specialists’ and allied health professionals’ visits in German nursing homes: a cross-sectional study of nursing home staff

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kristin Schröder ◽  
Alexander Maximilian Fassmer ◽  
Katharina Allers ◽  
Falk Hoffmann
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Czwikla ◽  
Annika Schmidt ◽  
Maike Schulz ◽  
Ansgar Gerhardus ◽  
Guido Schmiemann ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Nursing home residents have high medical care needs. Their medical care utilization is, however, lower compared to community-dwelling elderly and varies widely among nursing homes. This study quantified the utilization of general practitioners (GPs), dentists, and medical specialists among nursing homes and residents, and investigated whether dentist utilization is associated with individual and nursing home characteristics. Methods Forty-four nursing homes invited 2124 residents to participate in a cross-sectional study. For 10 medical specialties, data on contacts in nursing homes, practices, and by telephone in the last 12 months were assessed at individual and nursing home level. The proportion of nursing homes and residents with any form of contact, and the median number and interquartile range (IQR) of contacts among individuals with contact were determined. Using multilevel logistic regression, associations between the probability of individual dental care utilization and sex, age, LTC grade, years of residence, sponsorship, number of nursing home beds, and transport and medical escort services for consultations at a practice were investigated. Results The proportion of nursing homes with any form of contact with physicians ranged from 100% for GPs, dentists, and urologists to 76.7% for gynecologists and orthopedists. Among the nursing homes, 442 residents participated (20.8% response). The proportion of residents with any contact varied from 97.8% for GPs, 38.5% for neurologists/psychiatrists, and 32.3% for dentists to 3.0% for gynecologists. Only for GPs, neurologists/psychiatrists, dentists, otorhinolaryngologists, urologists, and dermatologists, the proportion was higher for nursing home contacts than for practice and telephone contacts. Among residents with any contact, the median number of contacts was highest for GPs (11.0 [IQR 7.0-16.0]), urologists (4.0 [IQR 2.0-7.0]), and neurologists/psychiatrists (3.0 [IQR 2.0-5.0]). Dentist utilization varied widely among nursing homes (median odds ratio 2.5) and was associated with higher age. Conclusions Almost all residents had regular contact to GPs, but only one third had contact with dentists. Lower proportions with contact were found for medical specialists, except for neurologists/psychiatrists. Reasons for the large variations in dental care utilization among nursing homes should be identified. Trial registration DRKS00012383 [2017/12/06].


2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (664) ◽  
pp. e757-e763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny McKellips ◽  
Erin Keely ◽  
Amir Afkham ◽  
Clare Liddy

BackgroundAllied health services are an important part of providing effective team-based care. The Champlain BASE™ (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service facilitates quick and secure communication between primary care providers (PCPs) and allied health professionals (AHPs).AimTo assess the eConsult service’s ability to improve access to advice from AHPs.Design and settingA cross-sectional study was carried out on all cases submitted to AHPs through the eConsult service between April 2011 and May 2016. The service covers Ottawa, Canada, and its surrounding rural communities.MethodA descriptive overview of all cases submitted to allied health services was conducted. Utilisation and survey metrics for AHP eConsults were compared with those sent to medical specialties, in order to understand the potential differences and generalisability of eConsult access beyond the traditional medical specialty referral.ResultsPCPs submitted 127 cases to nine allied health specialties during the study period. The most popular specialty was clinical pharmacist, which received an average of 1.5 cases per month. The median specialist response time was 2.1 days (interquartile range [IQR] 0.7–5.3 days, range 0.01–14.2 days) versus 0.9 days (IQR 0.2–3.4 days, range 0–49.5 days) for medical specialties. PCPs received advice for a new or additional course of action in 70% (versus 58% for medical specialties) of cases. They rated the service as being of high or very high value for their patients in 88% of cases (versus 93% for medical specialties), and for themselves in 89% (94% for medical specialties) of cases.ConclusionThe eConsult service has demonstrated the ability to support prompt communication between PCPs and AHPs, improving patients’ access to AHP care. Given the importance of AHPs in providing primary care, allied health services should be offered in the menu of specialties available through electronic consultation services.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Ania Wisniak ◽  
Lakshmi Krishna Menon ◽  
Roxane Dumont ◽  
Nick Pullen ◽  
Simon Regard ◽  
...  

The burden of COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted the elderly, who are at increased risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the association between SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among nursing home staff, and cumulative incidence rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among residents. Staff seroprevalence was estimated within the SEROCoV-WORK+ study between May and September 2020 across 29 nursing homes in Geneva, Switzerland. Data on nursing home residents were obtained from the canton of Geneva for the period between March and August 2020. Associations were assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and quasi-Poisson regression models. Overall, seroprevalence among staff ranged between 0 and 31.4%, with a median of 8.3%. A positive association was found between staff seroprevalence and resident cumulative incidence of COVID-19 cases (correlation coefficient R = 0.72, 95%CI 0.45–0.87; incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.10, 95%CI 1.07–1.17), hospitalizations (R = 0.59, 95%CI 0.25–0.80; IRR = 1.09, 95%CI 1.05–1.13), and deaths (R = 0.71, 95%CI 0.44–0.86; IRR = 1.12, 95%CI 1.07–1.18). Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 transmission between staff and residents may contribute to the spread of the virus within nursing homes. Awareness among nursing home professionals of their likely role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to increase vaccination coverage and prevent unnecessary deaths due to COVID-19.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10202
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Sandvoll ◽  
Ellen Karine Grov ◽  
Morten Simonsen

Introduction The Norwegian regulations for nursing homes consider access to meaningful activities to be an indicator for the quality of nursing homes. Activities of daily living (ADL) provide important basic self-care skills for nursing home residents. Due to the physical changes caused by ageing and comorbidities, nursing home residents may experience functional decline over time, which may affect their ability to perform meaningful ADL, such as outdoor activity, which is considered a valuable and meaningful activity in Norwegian culture. This study aimed to investigate the association between ADL status, institution-dwelling and outdoor activity among nursing home residents. Methods This cross-sectional study included 784 residents aged >67 years living in 21 nursing homes in 15 Norwegian municipalities between November 2016 and May 2018. The Barthel Index was used to assess the nursing home residents’ ADL status. Other variables collected were age, gender, body weight and height, visits per month, institution, ward, and participation in weekly outdoor activities. Descriptive statistics were used to provide an overview of the residents’ characteristics. A Poisson regression model was used to test the association between the outdoor activity level as the dependent variable and ADL score, institution, and other control variables as independent variables. Results More than half (57%) of the nursing home residents in this sample did not go outdoors. More than 50% of the residents had an ADL score <10, which indicates low performance status. Further, we found that residents’ ADL status, institution, ward, and number of visits had an impact on how often the residents went outdoors. Discussion The nursing home residents in this study rarely went outdoors, which is interesting because Norwegians appreciate this activity. Differences in the number of visits might explain why some residents went outdoors more often than other residents did. Our findings also highlight that the institutions impact the outdoor activity. How the institutions are organized and how important this activity is considered to be in the institutions determine how often the activity is performed. Conclusion The low frequency of the outdoor activities might be explained by a low ADL score. More than 50% of the residents had an ADL score <10, which indicates low performance status. Despite regulations for nursing home quality in Norway, this result suggests that organizational differences matter, which is an important implication for further research, health policy and practice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Md Mahfuzar Rahman ◽  
Mazaherul Huq ◽  
Md Atiqur Rahman

This was a descriptive type of cross-sectional study conducted in October, 2010, in three villages of Shahjadpur Upazila of Sirajganj district in Bangladesh. Among the rural households, those who visited medical practitioners in the last three months, were included in the study. The present study aimed to examine the pattern of prescriptions available at rural households of Bangladesh, to analyze the prescriptions whether diagnoses and/or lifestyles advice were mentioned, and to find out number of drugs and antibiotics (including their dose and duration of use) prescribed. During last three months, 68% respondents had attended a doctor's chamber; however, prescriptions were available for 57% of the respondents. More than three quarters of the prescriptions (77.6%) included 3-5 medicines, and antibiotics were prescribed to 194 (61%) respondents which constituted 21.4% of the total number of drugs prescribed. The average number of drugs and antibiotics prescribed per prescriptions was 3.8 and 1.3 respectively. Only about 23% of the respondents received antibiotics for 3-6 days, 30% for 2 days, and 46% for one day. Advice on lifestyles and diagnoses were mentioned only to 32% and 52% prescriptions respectively. The study also found that 22.6% of the prescriptions were made by unqualified doctors. Specific programs should be implemented to motivate and train medical students, practitioners and allied health professionals to provide rational prescriptions to the consumers in regards to the number of drugs as well as clarity of instructions given in the prescriptions.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13207 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:12-16


2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 546-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Hoefnagels-Schuermans ◽  
Luc Niclaes ◽  
Frank Buntinx ◽  
Carl Suetens ◽  
Beatrice Jans ◽  
...  

AbstractA cross-sectional study of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureuscarriage in 2,857 nursing home residents showed an overall prevalence of 4.9%. The three clones identified by genetic analysis were identical to those in the acute care facilities; only their relative prevalence differed. Clone 2 took epidemic proportions in five of these nursing homes.


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