Patient participation in electronic nursing documentation:An interview study among home-care patients

Abstract Background Patients are increasingly expected to take an active role in their own care. Participation in nursing documentation can support patients to take this active role since it provides opportunities to express care needs and preferences. Yet, patient participation in electronic nursing documentation is not self‐evident. Objective To explore how home‐care patients perceive their participation in electronic nursing documentation. Methods Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 21 home‐care patients. Interview transcripts were analysed in an iterative process based on the principles of reflexive inductive thematic analysis. Results We identified a typology with four patient types: ‘high need, high ability’, ‘high need, low ability’, ‘low need, high ability’ and ‘low need, low ability’. Several patients felt a need for participation because of their personal interest in health information. Others did not feel such a need since they trusted nurses to document the information that is important. Patients' ability to participate increased when they could read the documentation and when nurses helped them by talking about the documentation. Barriers to patients' ability to participate were having no electronic devices or lacking digital skills, a lack of support from nurses and the poor usability of electronic patient portals. Conclusion Patient participation in electronic nursing documentation varies between patients since home‐care patients differ in their need and ability to participate. Nurses should tailor their encouragement of patient participation to individual patients' needs and abilities. Furthermore, they should be aware of their own role and help patients to participate in the documentation. Patient or Public Contribution Home‐care patients were involved in the interviews

GPs' recognition of death in the foreseeable future and diagnosis of a fatal condition: a national survey

Background: Nowadays, palliative care is considered as a care continuum that may start early in the course of the disease. In order to address the evolving needs of patients for palliative care in time, GPs should be aware in good time of the diagnosis and of the imminence of death. The aim of the study was to gain insight into how long before a non-sudden death the diagnosis of the disease ultimately leading to death is made and on what kind of information the diagnosis is based. In addition, we aimed to explore when, and based on what kind of information, GPs become aware that death of a patient will be in the foreseeable future. Methods: A written questionnaire focusing on the GPs' experiences with their last patient who died non-suddenly was sent to a random representative sample of 850 GPs in the Netherlands. Results: The data were analysed of the 297 GPs who responded. 76% of the reported cases were cancer patients and 24% were patients with another non-sudden cause of death. The diagnosis was made only in the last week of life for 15% of the non-cancer patients and 1% of the patients with cancer. GPs were most likely to have been informed of the diagnosis by the medical specialist, although particularly in the case of non-cancer patients GPs also relied on their own assessment of the diagnosis or on other information sources. The GP remained unaware that the patient would die in the foreseeable future until the last week of life in 26% of the non-cancer group, while this was the case for only 6% of the cancer patients. GP's awareness was most likely to be based on the GP's own observations of problems and/or symptoms. Conclusions: The GP often only becomes aware of a fatal diagnosis and of death in the foreseeable future at a late stage in the disease trajectory, particularly in the case of non-cancer patients. It can be assumed that if the diagnosis and the nearing death are only recognised at a late stage, palliative care is either started at a very late stage or not at all

Patient participation in electronic nursing documentation:an interview study among community nurses

Background Patient participation in nursing documentation has several benefits like including patients' personal wishes in tailor-made care plans and facilitating shared decision-making. However, the rise of electronic health records may not automatically lead to greater patient participation in nursing documentation. This study aims to gain insight into community nurses' experiences regarding patient participation in electronic nursing documentation, and to explore the challenges nurses face and the strategies they use for dealing with challenges regarding patient participation in electronic nursing documentation. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was used, based on the principles of reflexive thematic analysis. Nineteen community nurses working in home care and using electronic health records were recruited using purposive sampling. Interviews guided by an interview guide were conducted face-to-face or by phone in 2019. The interviews were inductively analysed in an iterative process of data collection-data analysis-more data collection until data saturation was achieved. The steps of thematic analysis were followed, namely familiarization with data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and reporting. Results Community nurses believed patient participation in nursing documentation has to be tailored to each patient. Actual participation depended on the phase of the nursing process that was being documented and was facilitated by patients' trust in the accuracy of the documentation. Nurses came across challenges in three domains: those related to electronic health records (i.e. technical problems), to work (e.g. time pressure) and to the patients (e.g. the medical condition). Because of these challenges, nurses frequently did the documentation outside the patient's home. Nurses still tried to achieve patient participation by verbally discussing patients' views on the nursing care provided and then documenting those views at a later moment. Conclusions Although community nurses consider patient participation in electronic nursing documentation important, they perceive various challenges relating to electronic health records, work and the patients to realize patient participation. In dealing with these challenges, nurses often fall back on verbal communication about the documentation. These insights can help nurses and policy makers improve electronic health records and develop efficient strategies for improving patient participation in electronic nursing documentation

Factors influencing the implementation of clinical guidelines for health care professionals: A systematic meta-review

BACKGROUND: Nowadays more and more clinical guidelines for health care professionals are being developed. However, this does not automatically mean that these guidelines are actually implemented. The aim of this meta-review is twofold: firstly, to gain a better understanding of which factors affect the implementation of guidelines, and secondly, to provide insight into the "state-of-the-art" regarding research within this field. METHODS: A search of five literature databases and one website was performed to find relevant existing systematic reviews or meta-reviews. Subsequently, a two-step inclusion process was conducted: (1) screening on the basis of references and abstracts and (2) screening based on full-text papers. After that, relevant data from the included reviews were extracted and the methodological quality of the reviews was assessed by using the Quality Assessment Checklist for Reviews. RESULTS: Twelve systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria. No previous systematic meta-reviews meeting all our inclusion criteria were found. Two of the twelve reviews scored high on the checklist used, indicating only "minimal" or "minor flaws". The other ten reviews scored in the lowest of middle ranges, indicating "extensive" or "major" flaws. A substantial proportion (although not all) of the reviews indicates that effective strategies often have multiple components and that the use of one single strategy, such as reminders only or an educational intervention, is less effective. Besides, characteristics of the guidelines themselves affect actual use. For instance, guidelines that are easy to understand, can easily be tried out, and do not require specific resources, have a greater chance of implementation. In addition, characteristics of professionals - e.g., awareness of the existence of the guideline and familiarity with its content - likewise affect implementation. Furthermore, patient characteristics appear to exert influence: for instance, co-morbidity reduces the chance that guidelines are followed. Finally, environmental characteristics may influence guideline implementation. For example, a lack of support from peers or superiors, as well as insufficient staff and time, appear to be the main impediments. CONCLUSIONS: Existing reviews describe various factors that influence whether guidelines are actually used. However, the evidence base is still thin, and future sound research - for instance comparing combinations of implementation strategies versus single strategies - is needed. (aut. ref.

The effect and process evaluations of the national quality improvement programme for palliative care : the study protocol

Background: The nationwide integration of palliative care best practices into general care settings is challenging but important in improving the quality of palliative care. This is why the Dutch National Quality Improvement Programme for Palliative Care has recently been launched. This four-year programme consists of about 70 implementation trajectories of best practices. A large evaluation study has been set up to evaluate this national programme and separate implementation trajectories. Methods/Design: This paper presents the protocol of the evaluation study consisting of a quantitative effect evaluation and a qualitative process evaluation. The effect evaluation has a pre-test post-test design, with measurements before implementation (month 0) and after implementation (month 9) of a best practice. Patients are eligible if they have a life expectancy of less than six months and/or if they are undergoing palliative treatment and provided they are physically and mentally capable of responding to questionnaires. Bereaved relatives are eligible if they have been involved in the care of a deceased patient who died after a sickbed between six weeks and six months ago. Three types of measurement instruments are used: (1) numerical rating scales for six symptoms (pain, fatigue, breathlessness, obstipation, sadness and anxiety), (2) the Consumer Quality Index Palliative Care - patient version and (3) the version for bereaved relatives. The process evaluation consists of analysing implementation plans and reports of the implementation, and individual and group interviews with healthcare professionals. This will be done nine to eleven months after the start of the implementation of a best practice. Discussion: This mixed-method evaluation study gives more insight into the effects of the total programme and the separate implementation trajectories. However, evaluation of large quality improvement programmes is complicated due to changing, non-controlled environments. Therefore, it is important that an effect evaluation is combined with a process evaluation

Nursing documentation and its relationship with perceived nursing workload:a mixed-methods study among community nurses

BACKGROUND: The time that nurses spent on documentation can be substantial and burdensome. To date it was unknown if documentation activities are related to the workload that nurses perceive. A distinction between clinical documentation and organizational documentation seems relevant. This study aims to gain insight into community nurses’ views on a potential relationship between their clinical and organizational documentation activities and their perceived nursing workload. METHODS: A convergent mixed-methods design was used. A quantitative survey was completed by 195 Dutch community nurses and a further 28 community nurses participated in qualitative focus groups. For the survey an online questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-ranked tests, Spearman’s rank correlations and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to analyse the survey data. Next, four qualitative focus groups were conducted in an iterative process of data collection - data analysis - more data collection, until data saturation was reached. In the qualitative analysis, the six steps of thematic analysis were followed. RESULTS: The majority of the community nurses perceived a high workload due to documentation activities. Although survey data showed that nurses estimated that they spent twice as much time on clinical documentation as on organizational documentation, the workload they perceived from these two types of documentation was comparable. Focus-group participants found organizational documentation particularly redundant. Furthermore, the survey indicated that a perceived high workload was not related to actual time spent on clinical documentation, while actual time spent on organizational documentation was related to the perceived workload. In addition, the survey showed no associations between community nurses’ perceived workload and the user-friendliness of electronic health records. Yet focus-group participants did point towards the impact of limited user-friendliness on their perceived workload. Lastly, there was no association between the perceived workload and whether the nursing process was central in the electronic health records. CONCLUSIONS: Community nurses often perceive a high workload due to clinical and organizational documentation activities. Decreasing the time nurses have to spend specifically on organizational documentation and improving the user-friendliness and intercommunicability of electronic health records appear to be important ways of reducing the workload that community nurses perceive

Delphi-research exploring essential components and preconditions for case management in people with dementia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Case management programmes for home-dwelling people with dementia and their informal carers exist in multiple forms and shapes. The aim of this research was to identify the essential components of case management for people with dementia as well as the preconditions for an effective delivery of case management services.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The method used to carry out the research was a modified four-phase Delphi design. First, a list of potentially essential components and preconditions for the provision of case management was drawn up on the basis of a literature review and a subsequent focus group interview. The list was then validated by experts in a first Delphi survey round, following which the researchers translated the list items into 75 statements. In the second Delphi survey, the experts rated the statements; in the third Delphi round, they rated 18 statements on which no consensus had been reached in the second round.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The experts were able to build consensus on 61 of the 75 statements. Essential components of case management for people with dementia are: information, support and counselling, coordination of the care provided and, to a lesser extent, practical help. A patient-centred approach was found to be one of the key aspects of providing case management services. Essential preconditions are: vision, care relationship, structured methodology, integration of case management into the health care chain, and the case manager's level of training and expertise.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We recommend that, based on the essential components and preconditions referred to above, quality criteria be developed for the provision of case management for people with dementia. Furthermore, we suggest the conduct of additional research to assess the effectiveness of case management in people with dementia.</p

Cost-effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin for the prevention of pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients: study protocol for a prospective multi-centre randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN17553857)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pressure ulcers are a major problem, especially in nursing home patients, although they are regarded as preventable and there are many pressure relieving methods and materials. One such pressure relieving material is the recently developed Australian Medical Sheepskin, which has been shown in two randomized controlled trials <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr><abbr bid="B2">2</abbr></abbrgrp> to be an effective intervention in the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers in hospital patients. However, the use of sheepskins has been debated and in general discouraged by most pressure ulcer working groups and pressure ulcer guidelines, but these debates were based on old forms of sheepskins. Furthermore, nothing is yet known about the (cost-)effectiveness of the Australian Medical sheepskin in nursing home patients.</p> <p>The objective of this study is to assess the effects and costs of the use of the Australian Medical Sheepskin combined with usual care with regard to the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients, versus usual care only.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>In a multi-centre randomised controlled trial 750 patients admitted for a primarily somatic reason to one of the five participating nursing homes, and not having pressure ulcers on the sacrum at admission, will be randomized to either usual care only or usual care plus the use of the Australian Medical Sheepskin as an overlay on the mattress.</p> <p>Outcome measures are: incidence of sacral pressure ulcers in the first month after admission; sacrum pressure ulcer free days; costs; patient comfort; and ease of use. The skin of all the patients will be observed once a day from admission on for 30 days. Patient characteristics and pressure risk scores are assessed at admission and at day 30 after it.</p> <p>Additional to the empirical phase, systematic reviews will be performed in order to obtain data for economic weighting and modelling.</p> <p>The protocol is registered in the Controlled Trial Register as ISRCTN17553857.</p

Who is that nurse?:Transferring knowledge requires clarity about professional titles

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Case management in primary palliative care is associated more strongly with organisational than with patient characteristics: results from a cross-sectional prospective study

Background: Case managers have been introduced in Dutch primary palliative care; these are nurses with expertise in palliative care who offer support to patients and informal carers in addition to the care provided by the general practitioner and home care nurses. This study aims to describe support and investigate what characteristics of patients and the organizational setting are related to the number of contacts and to the number of times topics are discussed between the case manager and patients and/or informal carers. Methods: Prospective study following cancer patients (n = 662) receiving support from a palliative care case manager in Dutch primary care, using registration forms filled out by the case manager after contact with the patient and/or informal carer. In backward linear regression, the association was studied between patient or organizational characteristics and the number of contacts and the number of times conversation topics were discussed. Results: Organizational characteristics add more to explained variability in data than patient characteristics. Case managers provide support in a flexible manner with regard to the number, mode, persons present, and duration of contacts. Support covered all domains of palliative care, with most attention given to physical complaints, life expectancy and psychological aspects. Conclusions: Support offered by the case managers is prompted by characteristics of the organization for which they work. This is contradictory to the idea of patient centered care highly valued in palliative care