[Quality of Care for People with Home Mechanical Ventilation in Germany: A Scoping Review]

ATME-Needs, requirements and cross-sectoral patient journeys of patients with out-of-hospital mechanical ventilation and intensive care in outpatient settings: study protocol for an observational study

INTRODUCTION

An increasing number of tracheotomised and/or ventilated patients with high-cost out-of-hospital intensive care needs and, at the same time, a decreasing number of healthcare professionals inevitably lead to challenges in the care of this patient population. In addition, little is known about this population, their health restrictions, needs, patient journeys, care structures and processes. The project 'Needs, requirements and cross-sectoral care pathways of out-of-hospital ventilated intensive care patients' (ATME) aims to analyse these aspects and explore current care structures to inform further development of care in line with patients' needs and requirements.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Qualitative and quantitative methods will be used. In preparation of a semistandardised survey, exploratory interviews will be conducted with tracheotomised and/or ventilated patients with out-of-hospital intensive care needs (TVPOI) (n=15), nursing care providers (n=30), outpatient medical centres, as well as outpatient medical, medical technology and therapeutic care providers (n=35). Three semistandardised survey questionnaires for TVPOI (n=2,000) will be developed and conducted with nursing care facilities (n=250) and outpatient medical centres for mechanical ventilation (n=25). Content analyses will be conducted for qualitative data; survey data will be analysed descriptively. In addition, healthcare claims data will be analysed descriptively to provide information on patient journeys. Three result workshops and one consensus conference will be carried out with representatives of the relevant target groups to analyse the suitability of care structures and to develop recommendations for action to improve TVPOI.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The ATME study received a positive vote from the Ethics Committee of the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and is registered in 'Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien (DRKS)' (registration number: DRKS00030891). The study results will be presented at national conferences and in relevant peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, study results will be published by the funding institution (the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee) on their website.

[Supply of Medical Aids in home Mechanical Ventilation: needs-Based and Safe? - The Views of Stakeholders Related to the Care Process on the Current Status and Perspectives]

INTRODUCTION

The supply of medical aids is essential for patients with home mechanical ventilation. However, it is largely unclear to what extent this supply is needs-based and safe.

METHODS

As part of a health services research project, 20 expert interviews were conducted with a heterogeneous group of stakeholders related to ventilation-specific medical aids supply. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

The interviewees pointed to challenges and problems regarding structural, procedural and personal aspects at all levels of medical aids supply. In particular, deficits in task performance, coordination and cooperation between the stakeholders and authorities involved became apparent. Such might result in avoidable safety risks and hinder needs-oriented supply of medical aids.

CONCLUSION

Further development in ventilation-associated medical aids supply is needed, with focus on evidence-based practices, a comprehensive, cross-sectoral and cross-professional design as well as systematic evaluation.

["Ensuring patient safety is one of our primary responsibilities." - Results of a qualitative study on maintaining safety in ventilation-associated technical aid supply]

BACKGROUND

Maintaining safety is critical in home mechanical ventilation (HMV). It is co-determined by the availability of reliable technical aids and their correct application. Ensuring safe aid supply is part of the aid providers'́ legal mandate. However, whether and how this is achieved is largely unknown. Therefore, the tasks of technical aid providers, associated requirements and challenges with special regards to educational and safety aspects were investigated.

METHODS

For this purpose, episodic interviews were conducted between July and December 2020 with a purposive sample of field representatives of eleven technical aid providers. Between one and six persons participated in each of the interviews, resulting in a total sample of 25 persons (14 field representatives without management function, ten with management function, one director). Given the conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, six interviews took place face-to-face and five as web meetings. Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

From the interviewees'́ perspective, the most important safety-related measure is the legally required and individually tailored initial instruction in a safe aid application. Additional safety-related tasks comprise counselling, e. g. for prescribing physicians and users (patients, relatives, nursing service employees), regular home visits, and the provision of a technical emergency service. Interviewees indicate that safety risks emerge primarily from a lack of skills and a high staff turnover among professional caregivers. This, they state, challenges building up and maintaining competencies among nursing staff. Other safety risks arise from healthcare fragmentation, lacking coordination, cooperation, and accountability of the professionals involved. Respondents address these challenges pragmatically by providing additional services, like ongoing caregiver training, care coordination and support roles.

DISCUSSION

Maintaining safety in ventilation-associated technical aid supply must be considered a crucial component of the overall HMV care processes, in which safety currently cannot be taken for granted. Field representatives of technical aid providers address the existing challenges with selective and intuitive strategies, some of which exceed their legal mandate.

CONCLUSION

Improving safety in home care can be supported by establishing Advanced Nursing Practice roles in nursing services. The systematic further development of roles and tasks of staff of technical aid providers should be clarified within an overarching discourse on viable approaches to cross-sectoral and interprofessional HMV care.

[Toward a safe home: Experiencing the transition to an outpatient setting with home mechanical ventilation. A thematic analysis]

Toward a safe home: Experiencing the transition to an outpatient setting with home mechanical ventilation. A thematic analysis Abstract. Background: With the progress in medical options, the need for home mechanical ventilation increases. The transition from long-term ventilation in an institution to home mechanical ventilation in an outpatient setting is a difficult phase in terms of setting up the network of care, coordination of care for those with the ventilatory insufficiency and the financing. Aim: The study describes how patients with ventilatory insufficiency and family caregivers experience the transition from an institution to an ambulatory setting with invasive or non-invasive home mechanical ventilation. Methods: A qualitative research design with a social-constructivist approach was adopted using thematic analysis according to Braun and Clarke. We included seven German-speaking patients (≥ 18 years old) with ventilatory insufficiency and home mechanical ventilation (> 6 h/day) from the German part of Switzerland, with discharge from an institution to home, and five family caregivers who care for patients with the described criteria. Results: The institution was seen as a safe place. Affected persons and their family caregivers had to create a safe environment at home. Three themes were formed inductively: To gradually build trust with each other, to become experts as family caregivers, to align their own network with the new care needs.Conclusions: The transition home succeeds in the interplay of gaining trust, building expertise, and creating sustainable networks. Professionals can use this knowledge to provide targeted support to patients with home mechanical ventilation and their family caregivers.

Interprofessional weaning boards for invasively ventilated patients in intensive care units: Qualitative interview study with healthcare professionals in Germany

Numbers of mechanically ventilated patients are increasing worldwide. Weaning Boards could support weaning from the ventilator by facilitating interprofessional consultations between Weaning Centers and nonpneumological intensive care units. This study, which is linked to the project Prevention of invasive Ventilation, aimed to explore the design and implementation of future Weaning Boards. Semistructured interviews were conducted with physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and physiotherapists of intensive care units and Weaning Centers in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. Participants were asked to share their views on (a) required characteristics of Weaning Boards and (b) the current care of weaning patients in their wards. Qualitative data analysis included inductive and deductive steps referring to the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. The 14 interviewed healthcare professionals addressed characteristics of future Weaning Boards including (a) preconditions, (b) procedure, (c) interprofessional participants, (d) type of performance, and (d) time frame. Identified determinants for successful implementation were related to (a) individual characteristics of healthcare professionals, (b) ward characteristics, and (c) healthcare system characteristics. Weaning Boards could be a useful tool to advance knowledge sharing between professionals, improve education about weaning protocols, and support patient-oriented care. The implementation of Weaning Boards can be influenced by individual characteristics of participating professionals, difficulties in the interaction between professional groups, the present workplace culture, and the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

[Complexity of outpatient intensive care for ventilated people: Cross-mapping into the standardised NNN-taxonomy]

Complexity of outpatient intensive care for ventilated people: Cross-mapping into the standardised NNN-taxonomy Abstract. Background: In Germany, free text is the preferred method for recording the nursing process in outpatient intensive care, although classification systems could enable a more precise description. Research question: How is nursing care for people with outpatient ventilation represented by the NNN-taxonomy and what are the recommendations for nursing practice? Methods: A qualitative "multiple case" design was applied. Using deductive content analysis (data sources: nursing documentation and secondary analysis of interviews with affected persons), several cases, both individually and across all cases were linked to the NNN-taxonomy (cross-mapping). Results: In total, the nursing documentation of 16 invasively ventilated persons with a mean age of 58.4 years (SD = 16.3) was analysed. Seven persons additionally contributed interview data. Documentation was mainly based on the "Strukturmodell" (14/16) with a moderate to high accuracy (D-Catch Score: 16.6; SD = 4.1). Cross-mapping resulted in 4016 codes: 618 nursing diagnoses, 1956 interventions and 1442 outcomes. Documentation was strongly measure-oriented, not very person-centred and with a lack of differentiation between diagnosis and intervention. Conclusions: To improve nursing practice, a person-centred attitude and the ability to differentiate between nursing diagnoses, interventions and outcomes should be promoted.

[Quality of Care in Home Mechanical Ventilation]

Home mechanical ventilation has developed rapidly over the last 20 years. Today's most common positive pressure ventilation can be performed either non-invasively via face masks or invasively via endotracheal intubation or tracheal cannula. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in particular has gained in importance in recent years as positive evidence for a variety of indications for home mechanical ventilation has become increasingly available. In order to ensure a high quality of treatment for the steadily increasing number of patients, specific guidelines for different patient groups have been developed and regularly updated. The appropriate care structures for these partly multimorbid patient cohorts are strongly discussed, since the capacity limits of the existing care structure are reached by the rapid development in home mechanical ventilation. This development shows, that a critical evaluation of the existing care structures is necessary in order to develop a patient-centered, customized and resource-saving healthcare structure on the basis of the existing structures and taking into account the national characteristics of the German healthcare system.

Hygiene management for long-term ventilated persons in the home health care setting: a scoping review

Background

Evidence and recommendations for hygiene management in home mechanical ventilation (HMV) are rare. In Germany, few regionally limited studies show poor hygiene management or a lack of its implementation. This scoping review of international literature identified the evidence in hygiene management for ventilated patients in the home care setting which has to be implemented for infection prevention and control.

Methods

A review of international literature was conducted in CINAHL, PubMed and Web of Science. The search focused on four key domains: HMV, hygiene management, home care setting, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Data of included studies were extracted using a data charting sheet. Extracted data were assigned to the categories (1) study description, (2) setting and participants, and (3) hygiene management.

Results

From 1,718 reviewed articles, n = 8 studies met inclusion criteria. All included studies had a quantitative study design. The approaches were heterogeneous due to different settings, study populations and types of ventilation performed. Regarding aspects of hygiene management, most evidence was found for infectious critical activities (n = 5), quality management for hygiene (n = 4), and training and education (n = 4). This review identified research gaps concerning kitchen hygiene, relatives and visitors of HMV patients, and waste management (n = 0).

Discussion

Overall evidence was rather scarce. Consequently, this review could not answer all underlying research questions. No evidence was found for measures in hygiene management relating to ventilated patients’ relatives. Evidence for kitchen hygiene, waste management and interaction with relatives is available for inpatient care settings. However, this may not be transferable to outpatient care. Binding legal requirements and audits may help regulate the implementation of HMV hygiene measures.

Conclusion

Infection control programmes included qualified personnel, hygiene plans, and standards for MRSA and multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO). The appropriateness of hygiene management measures for outpatient care is the basis for their application in practice.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07643-w.

[Ventilation Patients between Acute Care and Long-term Out-of-Hospital Ventilation - Routine Documentation based Analysis of the Care Situation]

BACKGROUND

 The number of invasive and non-invasive long-term out-of-hospital ventilations has been increasing rapidly for years. At the same time, there is poor information on the quality of care of out-of-hospital ventilated patients. The present investigation was conducted as part of the OVER-BEAS study. The aim of this study was to describe the care situation of weaning patients from admission to discharge from the weaning center using existing routine documentation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

 In our retrospective analysis, we included all patients admitted in 2018 via the weaning ward of the Thorax Center Münnerstadt. Descriptive analysis of routine data collected as part of quality management was performed. Data sources were the WeanNet database, the discharge letter of the weaning center, and the transfer report of the referring hospital.

RESULTS

 In the studied weaning center, 50.8 % of the patients (n = 31) could be completely weaned from the respirator and extubated or decannulated (category 3aI). If complete weaning was not successful, 75.0 % (n = 21) required the constant presence of specially trained staff or a specialist nurse in the further course. In this case, further care was mostly provided in inpatient care facilities (e. g., ventilator shared living community).

CONCLUSION

 Based on routine documentation, the care situation of weaning patients can be presented and compared with known data. In this way, the outcome quality of a weaning center can be made comparable.

[Invasive and Non-Invasive Home Mechanical Ventilation in Germany - A Rapid Development with Large Regional Differences]

BACKGROUND

 The number of patients using home mechanical ventilation (HMV) is steadily increasing in Germany. Detailed data on inpatient initiation and control of HMV are not available. This, however, is absolutely necessary in order to optimize the medical care structures in Germany. Regional diversities must be taken into consideration in order to provide care structures that reflect the local needs.

METHOD

 The data sets of the German Federal Statistical Office on the OPS (Operation and Procedure Classification System) for HMV from 2008 to 2019 were analysed (N = 572,494).

RESULTS

 Between 2008 and 2019 there was a doubling of the number of HMV initiations and controls. The number of initiations (N = 17,958) and controls (N = 49,140) was highest in 2019. Furthermore, at the state level, the development of HMV is very heterogeneous. Finally, the increases were particularly due to an increase in non-invasively ventilated patients.

CONCLUSION

 The rapid increase in HMV is reaching capacity limits of the existing healthcare structure. New healthcare structures should provide an integrated approach between outpatient and inpatient care in order to ensure a high quality of care for patients receiving HMV without compromising the human and economic resources of the system.

[Ventilation Patients between Acute Care and Long-term Out-of-Hospital Ventilation - Routine Documentation based Analysis of the Care Situation]

BACKGROUND

 The number of invasive and non-invasive long-term out-of-hospital ventilations has been increasing rapidly for years. At the same time, there is poor information on the quality of care of out-of-hospital ventilated patients. The present investigation was conducted as part of the OVER-BEAS study. The aim of this study was to describe the care situation of weaning patients from admission to discharge from the weaning center using existing routine documentation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

 In our retrospective analysis, we included all patients admitted in 2018 via the weaning ward of the Thorax Center Münnerstadt. Descriptive analysis of routine data collected as part of quality management was performed. Data sources were the WeanNet database, the discharge letter of the weaning center, and the transfer report of the referring hospital.

RESULTS

 In the studied weaning center, 50.8 % of the patients (n = 31) could be completely weaned from the respirator and extubated or decannulated (category 3aI). If complete weaning was not successful, 75.0 % (n = 21) required the constant presence of specially trained staff or a specialist nurse in the further course. In this case, further care was mostly provided in inpatient care facilities (e. g., ventilator shared living community).

CONCLUSION

 Based on routine documentation, the care situation of weaning patients can be presented and compared with known data. In this way, the outcome quality of a weaning center can be made comparable.