What is desirable care in the opinion of formal and informal caregivers in nursing-home care for patients with dementia?

Aim To examine care characteristics related to desirable care as reported by formal and informal caregivers in Dutch Psycho‐geriatric nursing homes for patients with dementia. Design Qualitative exploratory study. Methods The sample consisted of four nursing homes. In each home, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a manager, a quality advisor or head nurse, a daily care supervisor and an informal caregiver. The findings were analysed by labelling and coding the text fragments. Results The 16 semi‐structured interviews contained 60 discussion items. The 16 items that were shared by the four interviewee categories were clustered into the following six major themes: good quality of care; poor quality of care; elements of a vision; extra hands; bureaucracy; and formal caregivers

Is patient-grouping on basis of condition on admission indicative for discharge destination in geriatric stroke patients after rehabilitation in skilled nursing facilities? The results of a cluster analysis

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Determinants of rehabilitation outcome in geriatric patients admitted to skilled nursing facilities after stroke: a Dutch multi-centre cohort study

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVE: to identify important demographic, clinical and functional determinants of successful discharge of geriatric patients from skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), particularly the role of multi-morbidity. DESIGN: prospective cohort study with data collection at baseline and at discharge. SETTING: fifteen SNFs in the Netherlands. Participants: of 378 eligible patients, 186 were included. METHODS: multi-disciplinary teams recorded demographic and disease characteristics, as well as functional status, cognitive functioning and multi-morbidity on admission. The study outcomes were discharge to an independent living situation within 1 year of admission and functional status at discharge (Barthel index). RESULTS: of the included 186 patients, 175 were followed up. Of these patients, 123 (70%) were successfully discharged. High Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Star Cancellation test (SCT) scores independently contributed to 48% of the variance of functional status at discharge, while low age, high BBS and SCT scores were independently related to successful discharge, explaining 33% of the variance. Multi-morbidity was not an independent determinant of rehabilitation outcome. CONCLUSION: geriatric patients admitted for 'low intensity' rehabilitation in SNFs after stroke appeared to have a fair prognosis for being successfully discharged. Postural control was an important determinant of both outcome measures

Geriatric rehabilitation of stroke patients in nursing homes: a study protocol.

Contains fulltext : 88482.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Geriatric patients are typically underrepresented in studies on the functional outcome of rehabilitation after stroke. Moreover, most geriatric stroke patients do probably not participate in intensive rehabilitation programs as offered by rehabilitation centers. As a result, very few studies have described the successfulness of geriatric stroke rehabilitation in nursing home patients, although it appears that the majority of these patients are being discharged back to the community, rather than being transferred to residential care. Nevertheless, factors associated with the successfulness of stroke rehabilitation in nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities are largely unknown. The primary goal of this study is, therefore, to assess the factors that uniquely contribute to the successfulness of rehabilitation in geriatric stroke patients that undergo rehabilitation in nursing homes. A secondary goal is to investigate whether these factors are similar to those associated with the outcome of stroke rehabilitation in the literature. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is part of the Geriatric Rehabilitation in AMPutation and Stroke (GRAMPS) study in the Netherlands. It is a longitudinal, observational, multicenter study in 15 nursing homes in the Southern part of the Netherlands that aims to include at least 200 patients. All participating nursing homes are selected based on the existence of a specialized rehabilitation unit and the provision of dedicated multidisciplinary care. Patient characteristics, disease characteristics, functional status, cognition, behavior, and caregiver information, are collected within two weeks after admission to the nursing home. The first follow-up is at discharge from the nursing home or one year after inclusion, and focuses on functional status and behavior. Successful rehabilitation is defined as discharge from the nursing home to an independent living situation within one year after admission. The second follow-up is three months after discharge in patients who rehabilitated successfully, and assesses functional status, behavior, and quality of life. All instruments used in this study have shown to be valid and reliable in rehabilitation research or are recommended by the Netherlands Heart Foundation guidelines for stroke rehabilitation.Data will be analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Besides descriptive analyses, both univariate and multivariate analyses will be performed with the purpose of identifying associated factors as well as their unique contribution to determining successful rehabilitation. DISCUSSION: This study will provide more information about geriatric stroke rehabilitation in Dutch nursing homes. To our knowledge, this is the first large study that focuses on the determinants of success of geriatric stroke rehabilitation in nursing home patients