Nurses' conceptualizations of managing emergencies in nursing homes

Recognising and responding to acute deterioration in care home residents: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Acute deterioration describes a rapid change in physical and/or mental health resulting from an acute illness - e.g., heart attack or infection. Older people in care homes are some of the frailest and vulnerable in society. They have complex health needs, experience multiple long-term conditions (MLTC) and have weakened immune systems due to the ageing process. They are more susceptible to acute deterioration and delayed recognition and response, is linked to poorer health outcomes, adverse events and death. Over the past five years, the need to manage acute deterioration in care homes and prevent hospital admissions has led to development and implementation of improvement projects, including the use of hospital derived practices and tools to identify and manage this condition. This is potentially problematic as care homes are different from hospitals-options to escalate care vary throughout the UK. Further, hospital tools have not been validated for use in care homes and have shown to be less sensitive in older adults living with frailty.

OBJECTIVES

To collate the available evidence on how care home workers recognise and respond to acute deterioration in residents using published primary research, non-indexed and grey literature, policies, guidelines and protocols.

METHODS

A systematic scoping review was conducted following Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology. Searches were conducted using: CINAHL (EBSCOhost), EMCARE (OVID), MEDLINE (OVID) and HMIC (OVID). Snowball searches of included studies' reference lists were conducted. Studies that featured care homes with or without nursing and provided 24/7 care to residents were included.

RESULTS

Three hundred and ninety-nine studies were identified. After reviewing all studies against inclusion criteria, n = 11 were included in the review. All studies used qualitative methods and were conducted in Australia, UK, South Korea, USA and Singapore. Four themes were generated from the review: identifying residents with acute deterioration; managing acute deterioration, care home policies and procedures, and factors affecting recognition and response to acute deterioration.

FINDINGS

Recognition and response to acute deterioration in residents is determined by multiple factors and is context sensitive. There are several interrelated factors within and external to the care home that contribute to how acute deterioration is recognised and managed.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The available literature on how care home workers recognise and respond to acute deterioration is limited and often subtends other areas of interest. Recognising and responding to acute deterioration in care home residents is reliant on a complex and open system encompassing multiple interrelated components. The phenomenon of acute deterioration remains underexplored and further research is required to examine contextual factors that accompany identification and management of this condition in care home residents.

For the interprofessional management of the discomfort of long-term care facility residents with dementia

Educating interprofessional practitioners in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) is critical for managing discomfort of residents with dementia, which is often unnoticed and undertreated. A framework of education on discomfort management that is applicable in various environments in different facilities is necessary. We developed a preliminary framework to educate interprofessional practitioners on discomfort management of dementia residents in LTCFs. We conducted a three-step research process: a literature review using topic modeling, in-depth interviews, and Delphi surveys. We derived four categories for an interprofessional approach toward discomfort management education in LTCFs: identifying visual and nonvisual signs to communicate among professionals, close observation using comparison and contrast to share information for discomfort care, harmony in interprofessional roles, and applying common and specific professional knowledge for discomfort management. The findings provide the first outline for an educational framework for interprofessional discomfort management in LTCFs for residents with dementia. We recommend interventions across different cultures to verify the framework in future research.