Aggressive behaviour risk assessment tool for long-term care (ABRAT-L): Validation study
Verbal and physical aggression arising from residents in long-term care homes poses a serious threat to other residents and staff. Aggressive behaviors are of concern because of high prevalence and serious consequences, including fatalities. A summary of 105 fatal incidents identified through an internet search indicated that “push-fall” or head/face “beating” incidents resulting in hip fractures or head/face and brain injuries were the most common events.1 Almost all (90%) of the exhibitors apparently had dementias. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - December 10, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Son Chae Kim, Brigette Berry, Lori Young Source Type: research
The effect of registered nurses on nursing home residents ’ outcomes, controlling for organizational and health care market factors
This article examined the relationship between nurse staffing and residents’ quality-of-care outcomes, controlling for long-term healthcare market characteristics in Korea. Using a multilevel cross-sectional design, a disproportionate stratified random sampling was used. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - December 7, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Juh Hyun Shin, In-Soo Shin Source Type: research
Informal support for older adults is negatively associated with walking and eating during hospitalization
Processes related to daily care of older adults during hospitalization, such as mobility and nutrition, have long-term consequences for their health and functioning. Although instrumental support provided by family members during hospitalization is highly prevalent, its relationship to older adults ’ actual walking and eating is unknown.Data on walking level (walking outside vs. inside the room) and nutritional intake were collected from 493 independent older adults admitted to internal medicine wards through up to three daily interviews using validated questionnaires. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - December 6, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Nurit Gur-Yaish, Orly Tonkikh, Efrat Shadmi, Anna Zisberg Source Type: research
Working together to learn new oral hygiene techniques: Pilot of a carepartner-assisted intervention for persons with cognitive impairment
We pilot tested a carepartner-assisted intervention to improve oral hygiene in persons with cognitive impairment (participants) and help carepartners become leaders who can adapt approaches that foster participants ’ ability to develop new skills for oral hygiene care. Following the intervention, we conducted interviews with participants and carepartners to understand their challenges in working together to learn new oral hygiene skills. Participants reported challenges such as frustration using the electric toothbrush correctly, lack of desire to change, uncertainty about correctness of technique, and difficulty sustain...
Source: Geriatric Nursing - December 3, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Ruth A. Anderson, Jing Wang, Brenda L. Plassman, Kathleen Nye, Melanie Bunn, Patricia A. Poole, Connor Drake, Hanzhang Xu, Zhao Ni, Bei Wu Source Type: research
Eliciting nurses ’ perspectives to improve health information exchange between hospital and home health care
Despite patient safety initiatives to improve care transitions, prior research largely neglects to elicit feedback from home health nurses regarding health information exchange. The goal of this quality improvement study was to identify opportunities to facilitate information transfer during hospital-to-home-health-care transitions for older adults with heart failure. We conducted focus groups with 19 nurses employed by a single healthcare system using two commercially available electronic health record (EHR) vendors. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 29, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Erin Sarzynski, Mark Ensberg, Amy Parkinson, Laurie Fitzpatrick, Laura Houdeshell, Charles Given, Kevin Brooks Source Type: research
Social support as a mediator between depression and quality of life in Chinese community-dwelling older adults with chronic disease
According to the United Nations report, the world population of older people is growing with an annual rate of 2.6%, more than twice the growth rate of the whole population.1 A consequence of the increasing percentage of older people is a surge in the incidence and prevalence of age-related diseases.2 Chronic disease not only produces a heavy economic burden on the individual, family, and society, but also seriously influences the individual's quality of life (QOL).3 (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 29, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Ling-Na Kong, Ping Hu, Yu Yao, Qing-Hua Zhao Source Type: research
Caregiver decisions along the Alzheimer's disease trajectory
Despite the rising prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), there is limited systematic evidence about disease specific decisions. The aim of this qualitative descriptive study was to identify decisions across the AD trajectory using focus groups of past and present caregivers. Qualitative content analysis revealed three main categories with corresponding categories and sub-categories. Main Category One —Decisions pertaining to self—yielded two categories: decision pertaining to the offering of self and care for the caregiver. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 29, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Marie Truglio-Londrigan, Jason T. Slyer Source Type: research
Improving practice – Reconciliation of medications
St. John Hospital& Medical Center (SJH&MC) is a 772-bed urban regional-referral teaching hospital and is located in Detroit, MI. The nurses are required to document and reconcile medications brought from and taken at home to ensure medication safety. Given time constraints and general workflow of the unit, staff had a compliance rate of 46% which was considerably short of the target goal of 90%. The Geriatric Team consisting of a Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist (GCNS), Unit Manager, and Informaticist met with Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE) staff to identify and resolve barriers. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 15, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Margie Romanoski Source Type: research
Person-centered care: The struggle persists
A reader, Penny Shaw, and nursing home resident herself, expressed her thoughts and concerns about a recent article in the May/June 2018 issue of Geriatric Nursing - Resident Choice: A Nursing Home Staff Perspective on Tensions and Resolutions by Palmer et al.1 She noted: (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 13, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Barbara Resnick Tags: From the editor Source Type: research
New report on assessing mobility has us moving toward consensus on the care we need as we age
For years, our nurses, doctors, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, and so many other interprofessional colleagues have led the way identifying risks, gaps, and opportunities in the care of older people. That work has led to tremendous movement for the science and art of geriatrics —for what our core principles are and for how they take shape in the clinic and the classroom. But with so much attention on Movement with a capital “M,” it can be challenging to pause and appreciate the incremental steps and successes that contribute to our broader progress. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 13, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Laurie G. Jacobs Source Type: research
Assisted Living and the Flu – It Ain′t Over Till it′s Over
By now the current influenza season is well defined and taking hold in many of our assisted living communities. How much do you really know about the flu? I thought I knew a lot about the flu until I attended a meeting of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in May of this year. As a representative of the National Board of Directors of AALNA I was asked to present to a room full of amazing, brilliant professionals from all over the US who know their flu inside out and upside down. What they did not know was about how we do things in AL when it comes to immunizations in general and particularly flu vaccinations. (Sou...
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 13, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: R.N. Margo B. Kunze Source Type: research
Family caregivers experiences of the pre-diagnostic stage in frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disease with symptoms that differs from other dementias. Commonly early symptoms in FTD are changes in personality and behavior, which can be interpreted as psychiatric disease. The delay in FTD diagnosis contributes to the burden of family caregivers. Therefore, it is important to have more knowledge about the pre-diagnostic stage. In this qualitative interview study, we explored fourteen family caregiver's experiences of the pre-diagnostic stage of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 10, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Hege Rasmussen, Ove Hellzen, Eystein Stordal, Ingela Enmarker Source Type: research
Challenges of a frontotemporal dementia patient
Families of patients with frontotemporal dementia living in the community face many challenges. Access to quality care, effective treatment modalities, and short or long-term placements are several of the challenges. Early recognition, family education, and appropriate specialist referral can lessen the burden for families as they navigate the health system during this progressive disease. (Source: Geriatric Nursing)
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 10, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Rebecca Bryant, Charman Miller Source Type: research
Older patients ’ motives of whether or not to perform self-management during a hospital stay and influencing factors✰
Semi-structured in-depth interviews (n = 12) were held to explore older patients’ motives of whether or not to perform self-management while hospitalized and to identify factors influencing self-management during hospitalization. These interviews were analyzed using the Quacol method. Self-management during hospitalization is oper ationalized as: collaboration with the nursing staff, having a proactive role, and having control over personal care. Three main themes, i.e., patients’ abilities, expectations and opinions, as well as their perceived behavior of nurses were identified along with eight influencing factor...
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 9, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Caroline E.M. Otter, Jita G. Hoogerduijn, Joost C. Keers, Ellen I. Hagedoorn, Janneke M. de Man-van Ginkel, Marieke J. Schuurmans Source Type: research
Geriatric models revisited as age friendly health care
In 2009, we wrote an editorial for this column asking why geriatric models of care were not coordinating their efforts toward a comprehensive, intra-professional, multi-component strategy to support high quality geriatric acute care.1 These models, including the Geriatric/Palliative care consultation service (on-site or virtual), the ACE (acute care for the elderly) unit or mobile version, the NICHE (nurses improving care for health systems) initiative, the GRN (Geriatric Resource Nurse) model, the HELP (Hospital Elder Life Program), the Advanced Practice Nurse Transitional Care model, and the Care Transition Intervention ...
Source: Geriatric Nursing - November 8, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Elizabeth Capezuti, Barbara L. Brush Source Type: research
