scholarly journals Challenges in long-term care facilities for older adults in Hispanic American countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-266
Author(s):  
Patrick Alexander Wachholz ◽  
Alessandro Ferrari Jacinto ◽  
Ruth Caldeira de Melo ◽  
José Luis Dinamarca-Montecinos ◽  
Paulo José Fortes Villas Boas

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about management and mitigation of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities (LTCF) for the aged in Latin America. OBJECTIVE: To describe how the management of LTCF in Latin American countries plan and adapt their routines for coping with COVID-19 and whether they have been able to fulfill recommendations published by the World Health Organization (WHO). METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted by online survey of managers of LTCF located in Hispanic American countries. A 46-item questionnaire (adopting the WHO principles) was sent to participants. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. RESULTS: Twenty-three care home managers replied, responsible for a total of 874 older people (range: 5 - 270). One questionnaire was excluded because of missing responses. Fourteen LTCF (63.60%) were private, for-profit facilities. The rate of compliance with WHO recommendations exceeded 70% for the majority of items. Just over half of the institutions had developed a strategic management plan, or had identified strategies for dealing with deaths of suspected cases. Difficulty acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE) was reported by 59.10% of the LTCF surveyed. The homes’ capacity for SARS-Cov-2 testing was limited (36.36% of the institutions did not have any tests). CONCLUSIONS: The rate of compliance with recommendations published by the WHO for dealing with COVID-19 was greater than 70% at the majority of the LTCF surveyed. More than half of the institutions had strategic management plans. Availability of PPE and SARS-Cov-2 testing capacity were very unsatisfactory.

Author(s):  
Timo-Kolja Pförtner ◽  
Holger Pfaff ◽  
Kira Isabel Hower

Abstract The Corona pandemic poses major demands for long-term care, which might have impacted the intention to quit the profession among managers of long-term care facilities. We used cross-sectional data of an online survey of long-term care managers from outpatient and inpatient nursing and palliative care facilities surveyed in April 2020 (survey cycle one; n = 532) and between December 2020 and January 2021 (survey cycle two; n = 301). The results show a significant association between the perceived pandemic-specific and general demands and the intention to leave the profession. This association was significantly stronger for general demands in survey cycle two compared with survey cycle one. The results highlight the pandemic’s immediate impact on long-term care. In view of the increasing number of people in need of care and the already existing scarcity of specialized nursing staff, the results highlight the need for initiatives to ensure the provision of long-term care, also and especially in such times of crisis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S341-S341
Author(s):  
Shu-Chuan Chen ◽  
Wendy Moyle ◽  
Cindy Jones

Abstract Aim: This study aimed to explore the effect of a social robot Paro intervention on depression and well-being in older adults with depression living in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Methods: This study was adopted a single group and quasi-experimental with repeated measures design. Each participant participated in two stages: observation and Paro intervention stages. Stage 1 was an 8-week observation stage in long-term care facilities where the purpose was to observe the normal mood, behaviour and activities of older adults with depression. In stage 2, each participant was given a Paro by the researcher to keep for 24 hours for 7 days in for 8 weeks. Outcome measurements were obtained 4 times: a week before the intervention (T1), immediately the end of 8-week observation (T2), mid-point of Paro intervention (T3), and immediately the end of 8-week Paro intervention (T4). Instruments included the Geriatric Depression Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale version 3, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-OLD. Results: There were 20 participants completed the study. The mean age of participants was 81.1years (SD = 8.2). After 8-week Paro intervention, statistically significant differences in changes were found on depression, loneliness, and quality of life from pre-intervention to post-intervention. Conclusion: This study was found that Paro intervention has beneficial effects on depression and mental well-being for older people with depression in long-term care facilities. Paro Intervention might be a suitable psychosocial intervention for older people with depression and should be considered as a useful tool in clinical practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-251
Author(s):  
Vanessa Clivelaro Bertassi Panes ◽  
Magali de Lourdes Caldana ◽  
Maria José Sanches Marin ◽  
Patricia Ribeiro Mattar Damiance ◽  
Patrick Alexander Wachholz

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the perceived quality of life of older people living in the community and long-term care facilities, and correlate it with the presence of frailty. METHODS: This is a quantitative, analytical, cross-sectional study in which 136 older people were interviewed, half were living in the community and the other half were living in long-term care facilities. The Edmonton Frail Scale was used to identify frailty, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life – Bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment for Older Persons (WHOQOL-OLD) questionnaires were used to measure quality of life. Analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficients were used for intragroup analyses. RESULTS: A greater proportion of older people living in long-term care facilities were frail. Perceived quality of life was better among people living in the community, according to both questionnaires, particularly in the domains social relations, environment, and death and dying. The worst scores were observed in the autonomy domain, particularly among older people living in long-term care facilities. In the majority of domains, older people with frailty had worse perceived quality of life scores. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of frailty favors a better perception of the quality-of-life domains, as does living in the community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 14-14
Author(s):  
Marleen Prins ◽  
Bernadette Willemse ◽  
Claudia van der Velden ◽  
Anne Margriet Pot ◽  
Henriëtte van der Roest

BackgroundTo prevent COVID-19 from spreading in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), the Dutch government took national restrictive measures, including a visitor-ban in LTCFs between mid-March and May 2020.Physical visits were replaced by alternatives as telephone or video calls. This study examines the relationship between the involvement of family caregivers (informal caregivers, ICs) of people with dementia (PwD) living in LTCFs and IC mental health during the visitor-ban. Furthermore, we examine whether this relationship is moderated by the frequency of contact with PwD during the visitor-ban and resilience of ICs.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out, 375 Dutch long-term care organizations were invited by email to participate. LTCFs sent eligible ICs a link to an anonymous online survey. Family involvement was assessed by the visiting frequency and doing social (e.g. drinking coffee), or social and task-related (e.g. laundry) activities during visits before the visitor-ban.Results958 ICs of PwD participated. Contact frequency increased for 17% ICs and decreased for 25% compared to visiting frequency. 43% of ICs did only social activities and 57% social and task-related activities. ICs who visited their relatives at least once a week before the visitor-ban were more worried during the visitor-ban than those with less regular visits (main effect). Contact frequency during the visitor-ban was a moderating factor, ICs who visited the PwD daily before, but had at least weekly contact during the visitor-ban, worried less. No main effects for activity type were found on loneliness , however resilience was a moderating factor. Resilient ICs who did more diverse activities (task and social related) before the visitor-ban, experienced less loneliness during the visitor ban.ConclusionsThe results implicate that to reduce worries amongst ICs, LTCFs should facilitate in continuing contact with PwD during a visitor-ban, specifically in highly involved ICs. Also, non-resilient ICs that generally only do social activities are more prone to loneliness. It is advisable for healthcare and welfare professionals to reach out to this group, to help them with overcoming their loneliness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 962-962
Author(s):  
Katherine Kennedy ◽  
Robert Applebaum ◽  
Kathryn Brod

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on Ohio’s long-term care facilities. Yet, months into the crisis, the financial ramifications and workforce shortage were unknown. In partnership with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University, LeadingAge Ohio and the Ohio Health Care Association developed an online survey that was launched in July 2021. Response rates were 46.4% for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs; N=446) and 35.8% for residential care facilities (RCFs; N=287). Core questions compared the first quarters of 2020 and 2021. Declines in operating revenues (-11.7% SNFs; -10% RCFs) and rising labor costs per patient day (17.9% SNFs; 16.1% RCFs) contributed to most providers experiencing a financial loss in the most recent month (78% SNFs; 66% RCFs). The increased documented use of agency staff is an important finding of this work; 62% of SNFs and 34% of RCFs spent money on agency staff. Despite increases in starting wages, the labor crisis remains severe. As of July 2021, SNFs had an average of 19.51 open positions, of which 9.82 were for state-tested nurse aides and 5.65 were for nurses. RCFs had an average of 8.83 open positions, of which 4.24 were for resident care assistants and 1.89 were for nurses. The challenges faced by the long-term care industry have rightly focused on the deleterious impacts of COVID on residents and staff. But these data also suggest that the financial impacts on the industry are serious and will likely shape access and provision of care in the future.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sharp ◽  
Kate L. Martin ◽  
Kate Martin

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