Prescribing for older people in nursing homes: challenges for the future

Prevention of infections in nursing homes: antibiotic prophylaxis versus infection control and antimicrobial stewardship measures

Because of the lack of structural and human resources for implementing more effective and safe preventive procedures, antimicrobial prophylaxis is often used to prevent infections in nursing homes. However, if data on the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in nursing homes are null, there is a plenty of evidence that the inappropriate use of antimicrobials in this setting is associated with a high rate of colonization and infection with multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDROs), and of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Here, we have reviewed the infection epidemiology, the burden of MDROs and CDI, the antibiotic use and some potential infection preventive measures in nursing homes, pointing up the peculiarities of this setting and the absolute need of a more prudential use of antimicrobials.

Antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities: a qualitative, multidisciplinary investigation

OBJECTIVES

To explore healthcare professionals' views of antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). To use the findings to recommend intervention strategies for antimicrobial stewardship in LTCFs.

DESIGN

Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted. The data were analysed by thematic content analysis. After the interviews, the emerging findings were mapped to the theoretical domains framework (TDF), and the behaviour change wheel and behaviour change technique (BCT) taxonomy were used to recommend future intervention strategies.

PARTICIPANTS

Interviews were conducted with 37 healthcare professionals who work in LTCFs (10 general practitioners, 4 consultants, 14 nurses, 9 pharmacists) between December 2012 and March 2013.

SETTING

Interviews were conducted in the greater Cork region.

RESULTS

The main domains from the TDF which emerged were: 'Knowledge', 'Environmental context and resources', 'Social influences', 'Beliefs about consequences', 'Memory, attention and decision making', with the findings identifying a need for 'Behavioural regulation'. Many participants believed that antibiotic prescribing was satisfactory at their LTCF, despite the lack of surveillance activities.

CONCLUSIONS

This study, using the TDF and BCT taxonomy, has found that antibiotic prescribing in LTCFs is influenced by many social and contextual factors. The challenges of the setting and patient population, the belief about consequences to the patient, and the lack of implementation of guidelines and knowledge regarding antibiotic prescribing patterns are significant challenges to address. On the basis of the study findings and the application of the TDF and BCT taxonomy, we suggest some practical intervention functions for antimicrobial stewardship in LTCFs.

Person-centered care and quality of life of patients with dementia in long-term care facilities

Good quality of life (QOL) is an important goal of dementia care. However, there have been few studies on the relationship of care characteristics to QOL of dementia patients in long-term care facilities. We developed a questionnaire evaluating person-centered care and used it to assess person-centered care and QOL of elderly patients with dementia in both geriatric health service facilities (GHSF) and hospitals. In GHSF, person-centered care scores were not correlated with cognitive or activities of daily living (ADL) functions, but were significantly correlated with four subscale scores on a quality of life questionnaire for dementia (QOL-D) after controlling the effect of age, cognitive function, and ADL scores. In contrast, in hospitals, person-centered care scores were significantly correlated with cognitive and ADL function. We found quite different patterns in the relationship of person-centered care scores to clinical characteristics. Dementia care characteristics and QOL of dementia patients are significantly interrelated, especially in GHSF. Improvement of dementia care standards might affect the QOL of dementia patients. We should pay more attention to the quality of dementia care and QOL of dementia patients.

Prescribing for older people in nursing homes: strategies to improve prescribing and medicines use in nursing homes

Interventions to improve prescribing in the nursing home environment are many and varied. The critical literature review presented in Paper 1 (Parsons et al., 2011, International Journal of Older People Nursing 6, 45-54) in this series discussed the main issues repeatedly identified as problematic, and this paper summarises the main approaches which have been used to attempt to improve prescribing. These include national legislation which demands documented justification for the prescribing of medicines, medication review, approaches to reducing medication errors, improving communication across care boundaries and assessment teams and alternative service models. It is difficult to make global recommendations as some of these approaches are country specific or have been delivered in different ways, involving different professionals. However, a series of prompt questions have been provided which may assist nursing home staff in deciding whether prescribing is optimal in a resident or if an intervention is required which may lead to an overall improvement in outcomes.