Transforming primary care for older Canadians living with frailty: mixed methods study protocol for a complex primary care intervention

Policy and practices in primary care that supported the provision and receipt of care for older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative case study in three Canadian provinces

BACKGROUND

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults were felt throughout the health care system, from intensive care units through to long-term care homes. Although much attention has been paid to hospitals and long-term care homes throughout the pandemic, less attention has been paid to the impact on primary care clinics, which had to rapidly change their approach to deliver timely and effective care to older adult patients. This study examines how primary care clinics, in three Canadian provinces, cared for their older adult patients during the pandemic, while also navigating the rapidly changing health policy landscape.

METHODS

A qualitative case study approach was used to gather information from nine primary care clinics, across three Canadian provinces. Interviews were conducted with primary care providers (n = 17) and older adult patients (n = 47) from October 2020 to September 2021. Analyses of the interviews were completed in the language of data collection (English or French), and then summarized in English using a coding framework. All responses that related to COVID-19 policies at any level were also examined.

RESULTS

Two main themes emerged from the data: (1) navigating the noise: understanding and responding to public health orders and policies affecting health and health care, and (2) receiving and delivering care to older persons during the pandemic: policy-driven challenges & responses. Providers discussed their experiences wading through the health policy directives, while trying to provide good quality care. Older adults found the public health information overwhelming, but appreciated the approaches adapted by primary care clinics to continue providing care, even if it looked different.

CONCLUSIONS

COVID-19 policy and guideline complexities obliged primary care providers to take an important role in understanding, implementing and adapting to them, and in explaining them, especially to older adults and their care partners.

Feasibility of Goal Attainment Scaling as a patient-reported outcome measure for older patients in primary care

BACKGROUND

Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is an outcome measure that reflects the perspectives and experiences of patients, consistent with patient-centred care approaches and with the aims of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). GAS has been used in a variety of clinical settings, including in geriatric care, but research on its feasibility in primary care practice has been limited. The time required to complete GAS is a barrier to its use by busy primary care clinicians. In this study, we explored the feasibility of lay interviewers completing GAS with older primary care patients.

METHODS

Older adults were recruited from participants of a larger study in five primary care clinics in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. GAS guides were developed based on semi-structured telephone interviews completed by a non-clinician lay interviewer; goals were reviewed in a follow-up interview after six months.

RESULTS

Goal-setting interviews were conducted with 41 participants. GAS follow-up guides could be developed for 40 patients (mean of two goals/patient); follow-up interviews were completed with 29 patients. Mobility-focused goals were the most common goal areas identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Study results suggest that it is feasible for lay interviewers to conduct GAS over the telephone with older primary care patients. This study yielded an inventory of patient goal areas that could be used as a starting point for future goal-setting interviews in primary care. Recommendations are made for use of GAS and for future research in the primary care context.

Potential Factors Influencing Adoption of a Primary Care Pathway to Prevent Functional Decline in Older Adults

Introduction

To help recognize and care for community-dwelling older adults living with frailty, we plan to implement a primary care pathway consisting of frailty screening, shared decision-making to select a preventive intervention, and facilitated referral to community-based services. In this study, we examined the potential factors influencing adoption of this pathway.

Methods

In this qualitative, descriptive study, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with patients aged 70 years and older, health professionals (HPs), and managers from four primary care practices in the province of Quebec, representatives of community-based services and geriatric clinics located near the practices. Two researchers conducted an inductive/deductive thematic analysis, by first drawing on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and then adding emergent subthemes.

Results

We recruited 28 patients, 29 HPs, and 8 managers from four primary care practices, 16 representatives from community-based services, and 10 representatives from geriatric clinics. Participants identified several factors that could influence adoption of the pathway: the availability of electronic and printed versions of the decision aids; the complexity of including a screening form in the electronic health record; public policies that limit the capacity of community-based services; HPs' positive attitudes toward shared decision-making and their work overload; and lack of funding.

Conclusions

These findings will inform the implementation of the care pathway, so that it meets the needs of key stakeholders and can be scaled up.

A national intervention to support frail older adults in primary care: a protocol for an adapted implementation framework

BACKGROUND

Older Canadians are high users of health care services, however the health care system is not well-designed to meet the complex needs of many older adults. Older persons often look to their primary care practitioners to assess their needs and coordinate their care. The intervention seeks to improve primary care for older persons living with frailty and will be implemented in six primary care clinics in three Canadian provinces. Presently, more than 1.6 million older Canadians are living with frailty, and this is projected to increase to 2.5 million within a decade (Canadian Frailty Network, Frailty Matters, 2020). The model will include frailty screening, an online portal to expedite referrals and improve coordination with community services, and several tools and techniques to support patient and family engagement and shared decision-making. Our project is guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) (Damschroder LJ, et al. Implement Scil, 4, 50, 2009). As others have done, we adapted the CFIR for our work. Our adapted framework combines elements of the socio-ecological model, key concepts from the CFIR, and elements from other implementation science frameworks. Nested within a broader mixed-method implementation study, the focus of this paper is to outline our guiding conceptual framework and qualitative methods protocol.

METHODS

We will use the adapted CFIR framework to inform the data we collect and our analytic approach. Our work is divided into three phases: (1) baseline assessment of 'usual care'; (2) tailoring and implementing a new primary care model; and (3) evaluation. In each of these phases we will engage in qualitative data collection, including clinical observations, focus groups, in-depth interviews and extensive field notes. At each site we will collect data with health care providers, key informants (e.g., executive directors), and rostered patients ≥ 70 years. We will engage in team-based analysis across multiple sites, three provinces and two languages through regular telephone conferences, a comprehensive analysis codebook, leadership from our Qualitative Working Group and a collective appreciation that "science is a team sport" (Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 471, 701-702, 2013).

DISCUSSION

Outcomes of this research may be used by other research teams who chose to adapt the CFIR framework to reflect the unique contexts of their work, and clinicians seeking to implement our model, or other models of care for frail older patients in primary care.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

U.S. National Library of Medicine, NCT03442426 . Registered 22 February 2018- Retrospectively registered.