Virtual Transitions and Opportunities in LTSS education Post-Pandemic

The Utah Geriatric Education Consortium Learning Community transitioned to the Age-Friendly Long-Term Services and Support (LTSS) ECHO with support from Comagine Health, our local QIN-QIO. ECHO sessions utilize case-based learning and mentorship to help community providers gain the expertise required to provide needed care and/or services to older adults. Since March 2020, and in response to the needs of our partners, four ECHO sessions (average of 47 attendees per session) have focused on COVID-19 training including COVID-19 briefings, infection prevention, positive thinking and coping with stress. With our partners, we also co-created a 3-part LTSS telehealth ECHO series to illustrate how telehealth can address the unique challenges of COVID-19. We will discuss 1) how we met the educational needs of our partners during a health crisis 2) the process we took to develop the LTSS telehealth ECHO series, and 3) opportunities for continued virtual education application.

Randomized controlled trial of once-per-week intermittent fasting for health improvement: the WONDERFUL trial

Aims

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) predicts heart disease onset and may be reduced by intermittent fasting. Some studies, though, reported that fasting increased LDL-C; however, no study evaluated LDL-C as the primary endpoint. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of low-frequency intermittent fasting on LDL-C and other biomarkers.

Methods and results

Adults aged 21–70 years were enrolled who were not taking a statin, had modestly elevated LDL-C, had ≥1 metabolic syndrome feature or type 2 diabetes, and were not taking anti-diabetic medication (N = 103). Water-only 24-h fasting was performed twice weekly for 4 weeks and then once weekly for 22 weeks; controls ate ad libitum. The primary outcome was 26-week LDL-C change score. Secondary outcomes (requiring P ≤ 0.01) were 26-week changes in homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), Metabolic Syndrome Score (MSS), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and MicroCog general cognitive proficiency index (GCPi). Intermittent fasting (n = 50) and control (n = 53) subjects were, respectively, aged 49.3 ± 12.0 and 47.0 ± 9.8 years, predominantly female (66.0% and 67.9%), and overweight (103 ± 24 and 100 ± 21 kg) and had modest LDL-C elevation (124 ± 19 and 128 ± 20 mg/dL). Drop-outs (n = 12 fasting, n = 20 control) provided an evaluable sample of n = 71 (n = 38 fasting, n = 33 control). Intermittent fasting did not change LDL-C (0.2 ± 16.7 mg/dL) vs. control (2.5 ± 19.4 mg/dL; P = 0.59), but it improved HOMA-IR (−0.75 ± 0.79 vs. −0.10 ± 1.06; P = 0.004) and MSS (−0.34 ± 4.72 vs. 0.31 ± 1.98, P = 0.006). BDNF (P = 0.58), GCPi (P = 0.17), and weight (−1.7 ± 4.7 kg vs. 0.2 ± 3.5 kg, P = 0.06) were unchanged.

Conclusions

A low-frequency intermittent fasting regimen did not reduce LDL-C or improve cognitive function but significantly reduced both HOMA-IR and MSS.

Trial registration

 clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02770313.

Online Opioid Stewardship Training for Long-Term Care Staff

Opioids are often the first-line chronic pain management strategy for long-term care (LTC) residents who are also at increased risk for opioid-related adverse events. Therefore, there is a need to train LTC providers and staff about appropriate opioid use and alternative treatment strategies. Our interdisciplinary team worked with LTC partners to identify staff educational needs around opioid stewardship. Based on this need’s assessment, we developed eight modules about opioid use and risks for older adults, including those with dementia, recommendations for de-prescribing including other pharmacological and non-pharmacological alternatives, SBIRT, and motivational interviewing to determine “what matters”. Each 20-minute module contains didactic and video content that is appropriate for group staff training or individuals and provides rural LTC facilities access to needed training in their home communities. Within the first month of launching online, the program received over 1100 hits and LTC partners are incorporating modules into clinical staff training schedules.

Successes and Challenges of Fostering Age-Friendly Health Systems Through a Long-Term Services and Supports ECHO

Launched in June 2016, the Utah Geriatric Education Consortium (UGEC) inter-professional Learning Community was developed by faculty in collaboration with primary care and community partners with a focus on Long Term Care. In 2019, UGEC expanded to include Assisted Living, Home Care and Hospice -5 primary care and 6 community long-term services and supports (LTSS) partners in rural and urban Utah with a primary objective of developing and training existing LTSS healthcare providers and direct care workers on the elements of age-friendly health systems (“4Ms”: mentation, medication, mobility, and what matters) to enhance care and improve outcomes for older adults across the continuum of LTSS. Attendance in the monthly distance learning sessions averages 27.5. Sessions are rated highly and engage nurses, behavioral health workers, administrators, physicians, nursing assistants, occupational and physical therapists. The process, challenges, successes of transitioning to a LTSS ECHO (Extension for Community HealthCare Outcomes) will be discussed.

Making cognitive decision support work: Facilitating adoption, knowledge and behavior change through QI

This paper evaluates the role of facilitation in the successful implementation of Computerized Decision Support (CDS). Facilitation processes include education, specialized computerized decision support, and work process reengineering. These techniques, as well as modeling and feedback enhance self-efficacy, which we propose is one of the factors that mediate the effectiveness of any CDS. In this study, outpatient clinics implemented quality improvement (QI) projects focused on improving geriatric care. Quality Improvement is the systematic process of improving quality through continuous measurement and targeted actions. The program, entitled "Advancing Geriatric Education through Quality Improvement" (AGE QI), consisted of a 6-month, QI based, intervention: (1) 2h didactic session, (2) 1h QI planning session, (3) computerized decision support design and implementation, (4) QI facilitation activities, (5) outcome feedback, and (6) 20h of CME. Specifically, we examined the impact of the QI based program on clinician's perceived self-efficacy in caring for older adults and the relationship of implementation support and facilitation on perceived success. The intervention was implemented at 3 institutions, 27 community healthcare system clinics, and 134 providers. This study reports the results of pre/post surveys for the forty-nine clinicians who completed the full CME program. Self-efficacy ratings for specific clinical behaviors related to care of older adults were assessed using a Likert based instrument. Self-ratings of efficacy improved across the following domains (depression, falls, end-of-life, functional status and medication management) and specifically in QI targeted domains and were associated with overall clinic improvements.

Electronic end-of-life care registry: the Utah ePOLST initiative

As a patient's end-of-life approaches, it is typical for the disease to be the focus of treatment instead of the dying patient. There is limited congruence between the care preferred by patients and the treatment actually delivered to patients during their end-of-life. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm has been endorsed or is in development in all but three states and the District of Columbia in an effort to ensure that patients are provided with adequate opportunities to specify their end-of-life care preferences. However, most states are using paper forms to document these preferences which may be inaccessible when needed. We have developed an electronic end-of-life care registry that allows authorized users to store and retrieve information pertaining to patients' end-of-life care preferences. In this paper, we describe (a) the requirements identified for the registry from the users' perspective and (b) the design and development of the electronic registry.

The role of information technology in translating educational interventions into practice: an analysis using the PRECEDE/PROCEED model

OBJECTIVE

The evidence base for information technology (IT) has been criticized, especially with the current emphasis on translational science. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the role of IT in the implementation of a geriatric education and quality improvement (QI) intervention.

DESIGN

A mixed-method three-group comparative design was used. The PRECEDE/PROCEED implementation model was used to qualitatively identify key factors in the implementation process. These results were further explored in a quantitative analysis.

METHOD

Thirty-three primary care clinics at three institutions (Intermountain Healthcare, VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, and University of Utah) participated. The program consisted of an onsite, didactic session, QI planning and 6 months of intense implementation support.

RESULTS

Completion rate was 82% with an average improvement rate of 21%. Important predisposing factors for success included an established electronic record and a culture of quality. The reinforcing and enabling factors included free continuing medical education credits, feedback, IT access, and flexible support. The relationship between IT and QI emerged as a central factor. Quantitative analysis found significant differences between institutions for pre-post changes even after the number and category of implementation strategies had been controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis illustrates the complex dependence between IT interventions, institutional characteristics, and implementation practices. Access to IT tools and data by individual clinicians may be a key factor for the success of QI projects. Institutions vary widely in the degree of access to IT tools and support. This article suggests that more attention be paid to the QI and IT department relationship.

Drug-age alerting for outpatient geriatric prescriptions: a joint study using interoperable drug standards

For more than a decade, the Beers criteria have identified specific medications that should generally be avoided in the geriatric population. Studies that have shown high prevalence rates of these potentially inappropriate medications have used disparate methodologies to identify these medications and hence are difficult to replicate and generalize. In an effort to improve prescribing behavior, we are building a drug-age alerting system utilizing standard drug coding systems for use in our Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.

Use and impact of a computer-generated patient summary worksheet for primary care

Advanced clinical information systems have been proposed to improve patient care in terms of safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. In order to be effective, such systems require detailed patient-specific clinical information in a form easily reviewed by clinicians. We have developed a patient summary worksheet for use in outpatient clinics, which presents a structured overview of patient health information. The worksheet provides patient demographic information, specific problems and conditions, the patient's current medication profile, laboratory test results pertinent to patient problems, and disease-specific or preventive care actionable advisories. Usage has grown from a few hundred to over 25,000 unique patients per month during a two-year period. Diabetic patients for whom the worksheet is accessed are significantly more likely to be in compliance with accepted testing regimens for glycosolated hemoglobin (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.28, 1.61).