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AnteayerInternacionales

Patient experiences during the planned perioperative care pathway: An integrative review

Abstract

Aims

This integrative review aimed to synthesize evidence about the patients' experiences during the planned perioperative care pathway.

Design

Integrative review.

Data Sources

Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline Ovid, Scopus, and American Psychological Association (APA) PsychINFO. Original, peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2012 and 2023 exploring patient experiences during the planned perioperative care pathway were reviewed.

Methods

This review was guided by the Whittemore and Knafl method and followed PRISMA guidelines to search the literature. Twenty-two articles were selected for the final study.

Results

Three themes emerged: Sharing of information is empowering; interpersonal relationships are valued by patients, and hospital systems and care co-ordination influence the patient experience.

Conclusions

The quality and consistency of the information patients receive can both support and undermine patient confidence in health professionals. The quality of relationships that participants experience and effective communication with health professionals can support or compromise the quality of the patients' perioperative experience. The nature of the hospital systems and care co-ordination in hospital has implications for the quality of recovery from surgery.

Impact

This review evaluates whether national and international health services and organizations, adhering to the WHO guidelines, have developed and implemented intentionally focused perioperative care with the aims to achieving effective and sustainable surgical outcomes through increased patient satisfaction.

No Patient or Public Contribution

This article is an integrative review and does not include patient or public contribution.

Barriers to healthcare professionals recognizing and managing delirium in older adults during a hospital stay: A mixed‐methods systematic review

Abstract

Aim

To investigate barriers to healthcare professionals recognizing and managing delirium in hospitalized older people.

Design

A mixed-methods systematic review. PROSPERO ID: CRD42020187932.

Data Sources

MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL were searched (2007 to February 2023).

Review Methods

Included studies focused on healthcare professionals' recognition and management of delirium for patients aged 65 years and over in a hospital ward or emergency department. Enhancing rigour, screening of results was conducted independently by two researchers. Qualitative and quantitative data were tabulated separately and grouped. Data were compared to identify similarities and differences. All studies were quality appraised.

Results

43 studies were included; 24 quantitative, 16 qualitative and three mixed-methods. Data synthesis highlighted synergy between qualitative and quantitative findings. Barriers were reflected in six themes: (1) healthcare professionals' knowledge and understanding; (2) communication; (3) workforce development; (4) interprofessional working; (5) confounders; and (6) organizational constraints.

Conclusions

Of significance, for older adults in hospital experiencing delirium, there is variability in whether and how well it is recognized and managed. To prevent adverse outcomes best practice guidance for screening, recognizing, diagnosing and managing delirium in older people needs to be agreed and disseminated widely. Supporting healthcare professionals to care for this patient population using an integrated approach is essential, how to involve and communicate with patients and their family and friends, how to recognize and manage delirium for patients with additional needs, e.g., those living with dementia and/or a learning disability. Hospitals need to have policy and guidance in place for the recognition and management of delirium in older adults presenting to a ward or to an emergency department. An IT infrastructure is needed that integrates assessments and care management plans in patient electronic records and makes them accessible within and across teams in hospital, primary and community care settings.

Patient or Public Contribution

There was no patient or public contribution to this systematic review.

Implications for the Profession and Patient Care

Healthcare professionals can be better supported to be able to recognize and manage delirium during an acute hospital stay for older adults. This includes maximizing best care for those patients living with dementia, involving families and friends to help understand patients' baseline status and changes and supporting families and friends during this process. Of significance, attention to hospital IT infrastructures is warranted, integrating screening, assessment and care management plans in patients' electronic records and making these accessible to healthcare professionals caring for this patient population across care settings.

Impact

What problem did the study address? Delirium is a common condition experienced by older hospitalized patients, but it is consistently under-recognized which has implications for patient and organization outcomes. To help address this, understanding barriers to healthcare professionals recognizing and managing delirium for this patient population is paramount.

What were the main findings? Barriers to healthcare professionals recognizing and managing delirium for this patient population were synthesized in six themes: (1) healthcare professionals' knowledge and understanding, (2) communication; (3) workforce development; (4) interprofessional working; (5) confounders; and (6) organizational constraints.

Where and on whom will the research have an impact? The findings of this original systematic review can contribute to hospital policy and protocol for the recognition and management of delirium in older patients. The findings can meaningfully contribute to workforce professional development for practitioners caring for older people during an acute hospital stay and for practitioners in primary and community settings involved in the follow-up of patients post hospital discharge.

For researchers, the findings indicate several research recommendations including investigating the impact of an education programme for nurses and other healthcare professionals on the recognition and management of the condition and understanding and investigating how best to support delirium-related distress experienced by patients and their families and practitioners.

Reporting Method

This systematic review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Page et al., 2021).

A pre–post interventional study to reduce time spent on clinical documentation by nurses and midwives

Abstract

Aim

To evaluate the impact of a co-designed intervention to reduce time spent on clinical documentation and increase time for direct patient care.

Design

A pre- and post-test interventional study with multi-method evaluation, reported according to the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomised Evaluations Designs guidelines.

Methods

An intervention to decrease the burden of documentation was co-designed and implemented. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected via time and motion studies and the Burden of Documentation for Nurses and Midwives (BurDoNsaM) survey. Documentation audits were conducted to assess intervention fidelity.

Results

Twenty-six shifts were observed (13 pre-intervention, 13 post-intervention). Although the coronavirus pandemic contributed to decreases in staffing levels by 38% (from 118 to 73 staff), the number of task episodes completed increased post-intervention, across all shift patterns. Documentation took less time to complete post-intervention when assessing time per episode. A mean increase of 201 episodes was observed on morning shifts, 78 on evening shifts and 309 on night shifts. There were small increases for time spent on direct patient care compared to pre-intervention but there was less time per episode. Results from the BurDoNsaM survey indicated that participants felt documentation took less time post-intervention. Documentation audits found completion improved as staff gained familiarity, but deteriorated when staffing levels were reduced.

Conclusion

The intervention was able to reduce time spent completing documentation, increasing the time available for direct patient care.

Implications for the profession and/or patient care

Completing clinical documentation is part of the daily work of nurses and midwives. Clinical documentation needs to accurately capture key information in a concise and streamlined manner to avoid unnecessary burdens and release time for direct patient care.

Impact

This study tested a co-designed intervention to address the burden of clinical documentation for nurses and midwives, The intervention reduced time spent on clinical documentation and increased time for direct patient care, This study could be replicated to reduce the burden of clinical documentation in other settings and benefit clinicians and patients by releasing more time for direct patient care.

Reporting Method

The study is reported using the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomised Evaluations Designs (TREND) guidelines.

Patient or Public Contribution

The research project and intervention evaluated in this study were co-designed through a clinician-researcher collaboration. A research team that consisted of clinically based nurses and midwives and nurse scientists was formed to address the burden of clinical documentation. As the end-users of clinical documentation, the clinically based nurse and midwife co-investigators were involved in the design, conduct, interpretation of the data, and preparation of the manuscript.

Insight into the experiences of caregivers of older adults in long‐term care homes: A photovoice study

Abstract

Aims

To explore the lived experiences of caregivers of people living in long-term care (LTC) homes during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and potential supports and resources needed to improve caregivers' quality of life.

Background

Carers (or care partners) of adults in LTC contribute substantially to the health and well-being of their loved ones by providing physical care, emotional support and companionship. Despite their critical role, little is known about how caregivers have been impacted by the pandemic.

Design

An interpretive descriptive approach that incorporated the photovoice method was used.

Methods

Using a purposive sampling strategy, six family carers in Ontario, Canada were recruited between September and December 2021. Over a 4-week period, caregivers took pictures depicting their experience of the pandemic that were shared in a virtual focus group. Visual and text data were analysed using thematic analysis with an inductive approach.

Findings

Caregivers expressed feelings of frustration, confusion and joy. Emerging themes included: (i) feeling like a ‘criminal’ amidst visitor restrictions and rules; (ii) experiencing uncertainty and disappointment in the quality of care of long-term care homes; (iii) going through burnout; and (iv) focusing on small joys and cherished memories.

Conclusions

The combination of visual and textual methods provided unique insight into the mental distress, isolation and intense emotional burdens experienced by caregivers during the pandemic.

Impact

Our findings underscore the need for LTC organizations to work in unison with caregivers to optimize the care of residents and support the mental health of caregivers.

Reporting Method

This work adhered to the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) checklist.

Public Contributions

The caregivers included in the study were involved in the co-creative process as active contributors informing the design and validation of the codes and themes.

General self‐efficacy as a mediator of the association between adverse childhood experiences and psychological distress in gender‐minority individuals

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the mediating role of general self-efficacy (i.e., belief in one's competence to cope with a broad range of stressful or challenging demands) in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and psychological distress (i.e., symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression) in gender minority individuals, which include people with a gender identity that is not aligned with their sex assigned at birth.

Design and methods

The study sample included gender minority participants who participated in Waves 4 and 5 of Project AFFIRM, a multi-site longitudinal study of gender minority health. ACEs, general self-efficacy, and psychological distress were measured using the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System ACE Module at Wave 4, the PROMIS General self-efficacy measure at Wave 4, and the Brief Symptoms Inventory Global Severity Index (GSI) at Wave 5, respectively. After adjustment for covariates, including age, race, sex assigned at birth, and income, multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to assess each component of the proposed mediation model. Next, mediation analyses were used to determine whether general self-efficacy mediated the association between ACEs and psychological distress.

Findings

The sample for this study consisted of 166 gender minority adults with a mean age of 38.6 ± 12.2 years. Most were non-Hispanic White (46.4%) and female assigned at birth (59.6%). Mean ACEs score was 3.2 ± 2.1 (range 0–8), mean general self-efficacy score was 13.9 ± 3.6 (range 4–20), and mean raw-score GSI was 17.3 ± 13.7 (range 0–64). Participants who reported experiencing more ACEs had greater psychological distress (B 1.60; 95% CI = 0.66, 2.54) and lower general self-efficacy (B −0.41; 95% CI = −0.67, −0.15). In addition, lower general self-efficacy was associated with higher psychological distress (B −1.06; 95% CI = −1.61, −0.51). Bootstrap estimation of the indirect effect was significant (95% CI = 0.14, 0.90) and explained 27.1% (95% CI = 7.76, 69.76) of the total effect of ACEs on psychological distress in gender minority adults.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that general self-efficacy partially mediated the positive association between ACEs and psychological distress in gender minority adults. Interventions that aim to improve general self-efficacy may be beneficial in alleviating psychological distress in gender minority adults.

Clinical relevance

Nurses can play an important role in reducing the health risks associated with ACEs by screening gender minority individuals using a trauma-informed approach to care and offering resources and referrals, as appropriate.

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