Paper
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Documentation of the Needs of Older Patients and Their Families and Strategies to Improve Care During Hospitalisation
Louise Hickman, BN, RN, MPH, School of Nursing, Family and Community Health, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South, , 1797, NSW, Australia, Esther Chang, BappSc(AN), M, ED, Admin, PhD, School of Nursing, Family & Community Health, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South, NSW, Australia, Patricia Davidson, RN, BA, MEd, PhD, Nursing Research Unit, Western Sydney, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, and Karen Handcock, BSc(Psych), PhD, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South, NSW, Australia.
| Learning Objective #1: Appreciate the relevance of a systematic, multifaceted needs assessment of patients, family/care, and nursing staff to inform nursing care in acute aged-care wards |
| Learning Objective #2: Understand the efficacy of a model of care informed by an action research process in improving clinical outcomes and satisfaction with nursing care |
Background: There are increasing demands on health care systems nationally and internationally as a result of ‘population ageing'. Identifying older, hospitalized patients needs is needed in order to improve the quality of nursing care. Study aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential of a tailored model of care; based upon needs of older patients in an acute aged care ward to improve care and health related outcomes. Method: This three-phase study employs multi-model data triangulation within an action research process. Patients and nurses completed the Caring Activities Survey (CAS), which rates the importance of and satisfaction with various nursing activities. A model of care was developed by nursing staff in collaboration with the researcher, which focused on a few aspects of care identified in the CAS as needing improvement. This model was evaluated using various quantitative and qualitative methods. This paper will focus only the quantitative results from the three phases. Findings: Implementation of a model of care resulted in significant increases in satisfaction levels in patients, increasing functional independence as measured by Activities of Daily Living. The post model group of patient's demonstrated significant improvements (p<0.001) in their knowledge of their medication regime they were taking from admission to discharge. Conclusions: Study findings have demonstrated that a model of care developed by nurses and tailored to an aged care ward using action research processes can increase satisfaction and improve health related outcomes in older people.