Practice Change and Culture Change in Implementing Geriatric Care Initiatives (original) (raw)

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing a Change Initiative in Long-Term Care Using the INTERACT® Quality Improvement Program

The health care manager, 2017

Implementation of major organizational change initiatives presents a challenge for long-term care leadership. Implementation of the INTERACT® (Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers) quality improvement program, designed to improve the management of acute changes in condition and reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations of nursing home residents, serves as an example to illustrate the facilitators and barriers to major change in long-term care. As part of a larger study of the impact of INTERACT® on rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, staff of 71 nursing homes were called monthly to follow-up on their progress and discuss successful facilitating strategies and any challenges and barriers they encountered during the yearlong implementation period. Themes related to barriers and facilitators were identified. Six major barriers to implementation were identified: the magnitude and complexity of the change (35%), instability of faci...

Strategies For Translating the Resident Care Plan into Daily Practice

Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 2008

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 required nursing facilities to complete a standardized comprehensive assessment known as the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) and to formulate a plan of care from the RAI to guide nursing care. The purpose of this retrospective case study was to examine the issues around the translation of nursing facility resident care plans to documents that guide daily care. Data were obtained by auditing 96 resident care plans in 10 nursing facilities in two states. Despite the importance of the resident plan of care, the audit revealed the provider approaches to resident problems varied appreciably in nursing facilities. The results of this study support the need for further research to assist in the development and implementation of strategies in nursing facilities that focus on standardized practices. Consistent systems can be promoted that translate the resident care plan into daily practice. Care planning is the foundation of the nursing process and is a federally mandated regulatory function in all American nursing facilities (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, 1987 [OBRA '87]). Compared with residents served by nursing facilities in 1998, today's average resident is older, more frail, more acutely ill, and more impaired (Harrington, Carrillo, & Crawford, 2006). Comprehensive assessments and individualized, interdisciplinary care plans are essential in meeting the needs of these vulnerable older adults. Each resident's care plan is composed of a set of problems derived from the assessment and the associated interventions for each problem. Nursing facilities use a variety of strategies to move information from the care plan into daily operations. The study reported in this article was designed to examine the communication of the interventions from the care plan to staff who provide daily care to residents. Two research questions addressed gaps in the existing literature: • How are the interventions in the written care plan translated to documents used by nursing staff to guide resident care? • What are the issues surrounding the translation of the written care plan? This project was part of a larger study to explore the relationship between care planning integrity and nursing facility resident outcomes (Taunton et al., 2007).

Translating Research into Clinical Practice: Making Change Happen

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2000

OBJECTIVES: To describe the process of adoption of an evidence-based, multifaceted, innovative program into the hospital setting, with particular attention to issues that promoted or impeded its implementation. This study examined common challenges faced by hospitals implementing the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) and strategies used to address these challenges. DESIGN: Qualitative study design based on in-depth, open-ended telephone interviews. SETTING: Nine hospitals implementing HELP throughout the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two key staff members (physician, nursing, volunteer, and administrative staff) who were directly involved with the HELP implementation. MEASUREMENTS: Staff experiences implementing the program, including challenges and strategies they viewed as successful in overcoming challenges of implementation. RESULTS: Six common challenges faced hospital staff: (1) gaining internal support for the program despite differing requirements and goals of administration and clinical staff, (2) ensuring effective clinician leadership, (3) integrating with existing geriatric programs, (4) balancing program fidelity with hospital-specific circumstances, (5) documenting positive outcomes of the program despite limited resources for data collection and analysis, and (6) maintaining the momentum of implementation in the face of unrealistic time frames and limited resources. Strategies perceived to be successful in addressing each challenge are described. CONCLUSION: Translating research into clinical practice is challenging for staff across disciplines. Developing strategies to address common challenges identified in this study may facilitate the adoption of innovative programs within healthcare organizations.

Adapting Strategies for Optimal Intervention Implementation in Nursing Homes: A Formative Evaluation

Gerontologist, 2020

Background and Objectives: Nursing homes pose unique challenges for implementation of research and quality improvement (QI). We previously demonstrated successful implementation of a nursing home-led intervention to improve relationships between frontline staff and residents in 6 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Living Centers (CLCs). This article discusses early adaptations made to the intervention and its implementation to enhance frontline staff participation. Research Design and Methods: This is a formative evaluation of intervention implementation at the first 2 participating CLCs. Formative evidence-including site visitors' field notes, implementation facilitation records, and semistructured frontline staff interviews-were collected throughout the study period. Data analysis was informed by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior model of behavior change. Results: Adaptations were made to 5 a priori intervention implementation strategies: (a) training leaders, (b) training frontline staff, (c) adapting the intervention to meet local needs, (d) auditing and providing feedback, and (e) implementation facilitation. On the basis of a 6-month implementation period at the first CLC, we identified elements of the intervention and aspects of the implementation strategies that could be adapted to facilitate frontline staff participation at the second CLC. Discussion and Implications: Incremental implementation, paired with ongoing formative evaluation, proved critical to enhancing capability, opportunity, and motivation among frontline staff. In elucidating what was required to initiate and sustain the nursing home-led intervention, we provide a blueprint for responding to emergent challenges when performing research and QI in the nursing home setting.

Addressing the New Normal in Health Care Using an Interprofessional Model of Care Coordination

Innovation in Aging, 2021

There has been significant discourse surrounding the widespread system failures within healthcare during COVID-19. Older, frailer, and poorer persons across the United States have been the most impacted by the pandemic. Given this, our FlourishCare team, received funding through the COVID Cares Act, as part of our Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) grant, to create innovative programming for individuals that were the most impacted by the pandemic. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is one intervention been shown as an effective way to assist persons in managing their conditions. Patients from our Optimal Aging Clinic were identified as struggling with hypertension, diabetes and/or COPD. Interprofessional teams of nursing and social work learners were assigned to work with patients. The kits contain all of the necessary technology and a virtual app platform that allows a patient to check their heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, and glucose levels. This information wa...

Geriward: An Interprofessional Team-Based Curriculum on Care of the Hospitalized Older Adult

2011

Introduction: Interprofessional (IP) collaboration is key in caring for older adults and a critical part of health professions education. Falls are a source of significant morbidity and mortality in older adults. GeriWard, an innovative curriculum, emphasizes IP collaboration during a clinical encounter with a hospitalized older adult. GeriWard Falls expands on the existing GeriWard curriculum, allowing medical, pharmacy, physical therapy, and nursing students to conduct a comprehensive falls risk evaluation at the bedside. Methods: The 2-hour exercise consists of participation in a team-based falls risk assessment at the bedside of a hospitalized older adult, development of a falls care plan and communication with the patient and primary inpatient physicians, and completion of clinical questions focused on systems-based interventions to reduce fall risk. Results: A total of 39 students participated in two sessions. Ninety-seven percent of students were likely to change their clinical activities as a result of the session. Faculty facilitators cited the students' ability to effectively collaborate, identify risk factors for falls, and propose systems-based interventions to reduce falls risk. Seventy-eight percent of primary inpatient physicians planned to implement at least one of the IP team recommendations; 89% agreed that the IP team recommendations were helpful. Discussion: The activity was engaging for students and helped them achieve competency with fall risk assessment. Communication of the students' assessment to the primary medical team not only was useful to the primary team but also helped students understand how systems can affect patient care.

Barriers to and Facilitators of Clinical Practice Guideline Use in Nursing Homes

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2007

OBJECTIVES-To identify barriers to and facilitators of the diffusion of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and clinical protocols in nursing homes (NHs). DESIGN-Qualitative analysis. SETTING-Four randomly selected community nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS-NH staff, including physicians, nurse practitioners, administrative staff, nurses, and certified nursing assistants (CNAs). MEASUREMENTS-Interviews (n = 35) probed the use of CPGs and clinical protocols. Qualitative analysis using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation stages-of-change model was conducted to produce a conceptual and thematic description. RESULTS-None of the NHs systematically adopted CPGs, and only three of 35 providers were familiar with CPGs. Confusion with other documents and regulations was common. The most frequently cited barriers were provider concerns that CPGs were ''checklists'' to replace clinical judgment, perceived conflict with resident and family goals, limited facility resources, lack of communication between providers and across shifts, facility policies that overwhelm or conflict with CPGs, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations interpreted to limit CNA access to clinical information. Facilitators included incorporating CPG recommendations into training materials, standing orders, customizable data collection forms, and regulatory reporting activities. CONCLUSION-Clinicians and researchers wishing to increase CPG use in NHs should consider these barriers and facilitators in their quality improvement and intervention development processes.

Implementation of geriatric acute care best practices: Initial results of the NICHE SITE self-evaluation

Nursing & Health Sciences, 2013

Nurses Improving Care of Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) provides hospitals with tools and resources to implement an initiative to improve health outcomes in older adults and their families. Beginning in 2011, members have engaged in a process of program self-evaluation, designed to evaluate internal progress toward developing, sustaining, and disseminating NICHE. This manuscript describes the NICHE Site Self-evaluation and reports the inaugural self-evaluation data in 180 North American hospitals. NICHE members evaluate their program utilizing the following dimensions of a geriatric acute care program: guiding principles, organizational structures, leadership, geriatric staff competence, interdisciplinary resources and processes, patientand family-centered approaches, environment of care, and quality metrics. The majority of NICHE sites were at the progressive implementation level (n = 100, 55.6%), having implemented interdisciplinary geriatric education and the geriatric resource nurse (GRN) model on at least one unit; 29% have implemented the GRN model on multiple units, including specialty areas. Bed size, teaching status, and Magnet status were not associated with level of implementation, suggesting that NICHE implementation can be successful in a variety of settings and communities.

The most used and most helpful facilitators for patient-centered medical home implementation

Implementation Science, 2015

Background: Like other transformative healthcare initiatives, patient-centered medical home (PCMH) implementation requires substantial investments of time and resources. Even though PCMH and PCMH-like models are being implemented by multiple provider practices and health systems, little is known about what facilitates their implementation. The purpose of this study was to assess which PCMH-implementation resources are most widely used, by whom, and which resources primary care personnel find most helpful.