Situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery to hospitalized elderly in the Netherlands: A comparison between hospitals

__Abstract__ Background: It is known that interprofessional collaboration is crucial for integrated care delivery, yet we are still unclear about the underlying mechanisms explaining effectiveness of integrated care delivery to older patients. In addition, we lack research comparing integrated care delivery between hospitals. Therefore, this study aims to (i) provide insight into the underlying components 'relational coordination' and 'situational awareness' of integrated care delivery and the role of team and organizational context in integrated care delivery; and (ii) compare situational awareness, relational coordination, and integrated care delivery of different hospitals in the Netherlands. Methods. This cross-sectional study took place in 2012 among professionals from three different hospitals involved in the delivery of care to older patients. A total of 215 professionals filled in the questionnaire (42% response rate).Descriptive statistics and paired-sample t-tests were used to investigate the level of situational awareness, relational coordination, and integrated care delivery in the three different hospitals. Correlation and multilevel analyses were used to investigate the relationship between background characteristics, team context, organizational context, situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery. Results: No differences in background characteristics, team context, organizational context, situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery were found among the three hospitals. Correlational analysis revealed that situational awareness (r = 0.30; p < 0.01), relational coordination (r = 0.17; p < 0.05), team climate (r = 0.29; p < 0.01), formal internal communication (r = 0.46; p < 0.01), and informal internal communication (r = 0.36; p < 0.01) were positively associated with integrated care delivery. Stepwise multilevel analyses showed that formal internal communication (p < 0.001) and situational awareness (p < 0.01) were associated with integrated care delivery. Team climate was not significantly associated with integrated care delivery when situational awareness and relational coordination were included in the equation. Thus situational awareness acted as mediator between team climate and integrated care delivery among professionals delivering care to older hospitalized patients. Conclusions: The results of this study show the importance of formal internal communication and situational awareness for quality of care delivery to hospitalized older patients

Evaluation of the Prevention and Reactivation Care Program (PReCaP) for the hospitalized elderly: a prospective nonrandomized controlled trial

Kirsten J Asmus-Szepesi,1 Linda E Flinterman,1 Marc A Koopmanschap,2 Anna P Nieboer,2 Ton J Bakker,3 Johan P Mackenbach,1 Ewout W Steyerberg1 1Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, 2Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University, 3Stichting Wetenschap Balans, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Background: The hospitalized elderly are at risk of functional decline. We evaluated the effects and care costs of a specialized geriatric rehabilitation program aimed at preventing functional decline among at-risk hospitalized elderly.Methods: The prospective nonrandomized controlled trial reported here was performed in three hospitals in the Netherlands. One hospital implemented the Prevention and Reactivation Care Program (PReCaP), while two other hospitals providing usual care served as control settings. Within the PReCaP hospital we compared patients pre-implementation with patients post-implementation of the PReCaP (&ldquo;within-hospital analysis&rdquo;), while our nonrandomized controlled trial compared patients of the PReCaP hospital post-implementation with patients from the two control hospitals providing usual care (&ldquo;between-hospital analysis&rdquo;). Hospitalized patients 65 years or older and at risk of functional decline were interviewed at baseline and at 3 and 12 months using validated questionnaires to score functioning, depression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We estimated costs per unit of care from hospital information systems and national data sources. We used adjusted general linear mixed models to analyze functioning and HRQoL.Results: Between-hospital analysis showed no difference in activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) between PReCaP patients and control groups. PReCaP patients did have slightly better cognitive functioning (Mini Mental State Examination; 0.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2&ndash;0.6]), lower depression (Geriatric Depression Scale 15; -0.9 [95% -1.1 to -0.6]) and higher perceived health (Short-Form 20; 5.6 [95% CI 2.8&ndash;8.4]) than control patients. Analyses within the PReCaP hospital comparing patients pre- and post-implementation of the PReCaP showed no improvement over time in functioning, depression, and HRQoL. One-year health care costs were higher for PReCaP patients, both for the within-hospital analysis (+&euro;7,000) and the between-hospital analysis (+&euro;2,500).Conclusion: We did not find any effect of the PReCaP on ADL and IADL. The PReCaP may possibly provide some benefits to hospitalized patients at risk of functional decline with respect to cognitive functioning, depression, and perceived health. Further evaluations of integrated intervention programs to limit functional decline are therefore required. Keywords: functional decline, geriatric rehabilitation, health-related quality of life, activities of daily livin