Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of a Home-Based and Volunteer-Administered Physical Training, Nutritional, and Social Support Program on Malnutrition and Frailty in Older Persons: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a home-based and volunteer-administered physical training and nutritional intervention program compared with social support intervention on nutritional and frailty status in prefrail and frail community-dwelling older persons. ⋯ The results indicate that a home-based physical training, nutritional, and social support intervention conducted by nonprofessionals is feasible and can help to tackle malnutrition and frailty in older persons living at home. Furthermore, social support alone also can result in improvement. In particular, older adults with impaired nutritional status at baseline can benefit more from the intervention. Such a home visit program might also have the potential to prevent future health risks and could allay isolation and loneliness.
-
Determining if a transfer of a skilled nursing facility (SNF) patient/resident to an acute hospital is potentially avoidable or preventable is challenging. Most previous research on potentially avoidable or preventable hospitalizations is based on diagnoses without in-depth root cause analysis (RCA), and few studies have examined SNF staff perspective on preventability of transfers. ⋯ SNF staff rated a substantial proportion of transfers as potentially preventable on retrospective RCAs. Factors associated with ratings of preventability, as well as illustrative case examples, provide important insights that can assist SNFs in focusing education and care process improvements in order to reduce unnecessary hospital transfers and their associated morbidity and costs.
-
Multidrug-resistant organisms are an emerging and serious threat to the care of patients. Long-term care facilities are considered a reservoir of these organisms partly because of the over-prescribing of antibiotics. Antibiotic use is common in long-term care facilities. Antibiotic stewardship programs have been shown to reduce antibiotic consumption in acute-care facilities. The purpose of our study is to investigate existing infection-control practices and antibiotic stewardship programs in long-term care facilities in Maryland. ⋯ Antibiotic stewardship programs in long-term care facilities are still in early development stages, but our results demonstrate that the majority of facilities are collecting data on prescribing antibiotics, and a surprising number have antibiotic approval and antibiotics prescribing training.
-
Comparative Study
Comparing Palliative Care in Care Homes Across Europe (PACE): Protocol of a Cross-sectional Study of Deceased Residents in 6 EU Countries.
Although a growing number of older people are dying in care homes, palliative care has developed in these settings only recently. Cross-country representative comparative research hardly exists in this area. As part of a large EU-funded project, we aim to undertake representative comparative research in care homes in Europe, to describe and compare 6 countries in terms of (1) resident outcomes, quality and costs of palliative and end-of-life care; and (2) palliative care structures and staff knowledge and attitudes toward palliative care. We also aim to explore country, facility, staff, patient, and care characteristics related to better outcomes at resident level. ⋯ Considering the growing challenges associated with aging in all European countries, there is an urgent need to build a robust international comparative evidence base that can inform the development of policies to target improved palliative care in care homes. By describing this research protocol, we hope to inform international research in care homes on how to perform representative end-of-life care research in these settings and better understand which systems are associated with better outcomes.