Seniors managing multiple medications: using mixed methods to view the home care safety lens.

BACKGROUND: Patient safety is a national and international priority with medication safety earmarked as both a prevalent and high-risk area of concern. To date, medication safety research has focused overwhelmingly on institutional based care provided by paid healthcare professionals, which often has little applicability to the home care setting. This critical gap in our current understanding of medication safety in the home care sector is particularly evident with the elderly who often manage more than one chronic illness and a complex palette of medications, along with other care needs. This study addresses the medication management issues faced by seniors with chronic illnesses, their family, caregivers, and paid providers within Canadian publicly funded home care programs in Alberta (AB), Ontario (ON), Quebec (QC) and Nova Scotia (NS). METHODS: Informed by a socio-ecological perspective, this study utilized Interpretive Description (ID) methodology and participatory photographic methods to capture and analyze a range of visual and textual data. Three successive phases of data collection and analysis were conducted in a concurrent, iterative fashion in eight urban and/or rural households in each province. A total of 94 participants (i.e., seniors receiving home care services, their family/caregivers, and paid providers) were interviewed individually. In addition, 69 providers took part in focus groups. Analysis was iterative and concurrent with data collection in that each interview was compared with subsequent interviews for converging as well as diverging patterns. RESULTS: Six patterns were identified that provide a rich portrayal of the complexity of medication management safety in home care: vulnerabilities that impact the safe management and storage of medication, sustaining adequate supports, degrees of shared accountability for care, systems of variable effectiveness, poly-literacy required to navigate the system, and systemic challenges to maintaining medication safety in the home. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for policy makers, health system leaders, care providers, researchers, and educators to work with home care clients and caregivers on three key messages for improvement: adapt care delivery models to the home care landscape; develop a palette of user-centered tools to support medication safety in the home; and strengthen health systems integration.

Making research integral to home care services.

Home care is the fastest growing segment of the Canadian healthcare system, yet research on patient safety has been conducted predominantly in institutional settings. This is a case example of how Victorian Order of Nurses Canada, a national not-for-profit home and community care provider, embedded a nurse researcher to create an environment in which health services research flourished. This model strategically propelled important issues such as home care safety on to the national research and policy agendas and helped leverage change in multiple levels of the healthcare system. This is a call to action for building partnerships to have a researcher as an integral team member in organizations providing home care services.

Responsibility for Canada's healthcare quality agenda: the home and community sector.

In their study on the current state of the quality agenda in the Canadian healthcare system, Sullivan and colleagues interviewed healthcare leaders across Canada who predominantly represent the hospital care sector. The home and community sector is under-represented in research and discussions about quality and patient safety, despite the fact that it is the fastest-growing sector in healthcare. Patient safety research in home care has been spearheaded by VON Canada and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute since 2005. Quality and safety are not just parallel imperatives; rather, they are inextricably linked concepts that rely on each other to function effectively. Safety for clients or patients is complex when multiple organizations, regulated and unregulated paid providers and unpaid family caregivers make up the team providing care in an uncontrolled home environment. Add to this the pressure of reducing costs while increasing home care admissions, and the equation seems impossible. Client or patient participation is increasingly recognized and advocated as a main component in the redesign of healthcare processes to improve patient safety and may provide a key organizing principle for better care and outcomes.

Association of thymectomy with infection following congenital heart surgery.

BACKGROUND: Congenital absence of the thymus can lead to profound immunodeficiency, suggesting that thymic function during fetal development is essential to normal lymphocyte development. How vital the thymus after birth is to human immune competence and regulation is not known. Routine thymectomy, especially at an early age, may influence immunity, and therefore the risk of infection, autoimmunity, or malignancy. METHODS: A retrospective review of cardiac surgery patients followed at Seattle Children's Hospital was performed. The primary outcome was rate of serious infections requiring hospitalization. Secondary analyses included age, type of infection, cardiac diagnosis, surgical procedure, and comorbidities. RESULTS: Patients fell into 2 groups: 60 with complete thymectomy and 35 with partial or no thymectomy. There was no statistical difference between groups in the overall prevalence of serious infections (16.7% vs 17.2%, P = 1.0). There was a nonsignificant trend toward reduced time between surgery and onset of first infection in patients in the total thymectomy group versus those without thymectomy (1.7 years vs 4.6 years, P = .07). Total thymectomy before 6 months of age also tended to increase infection rate, but the effect was not significant (0.09/year vs 0.02, P = .14). Gastroesophageal reflux in patients with total thymectomy increased the risk of infection (P = .013), suggesting a cumulative effect. CONCLUSIONS: Though infections occurred frequently in the childhood cardiac surgery population, total thymectomy was not associated with increased risk of serious infection. Comorbid conditions may be more important contributing factors increasing the risk of infection in this complex and vulnerable population.

The primary healthcare nurse practitioner in Ontario: a workforce study.

The role of the primary healthcare nurse practitioner (NP-PHC) has a long history in Ontario. In this paper, we describe the evolution of the role with a focus on geographic distribution, a profile of client populations and the services provided by NP-PHCs. Comparisons will be made to findings from previous studies and reports on the NP-PHC role in Ontario. In 2004 and 2005, two-thirds of the nurse practitioners registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario responded to a descriptive self-reporting survey. The data collected revealed that NP-PHCs work throughout the healthcare system, including with underserviced and marginalized populations, in community health centres and in outpatient areas within acute care hospitals. They provide the entire spectrum of primary healthcare services. Barriers to fully enacting the role are related to restrictive legislation that limits NP prescribing and diagnosing, and the ability to work to full scope of practice in hospitals (for example, in emergency departments). Targeted funding has promoted the role throughout the province. However, inadequate and insecure pilot funding continues to be a concern. Findings from this study indicate that policy decisions to support the NP role in rural and remote areas have resulted in expansion of the role across the province. Yet, NPs perceive that legislation has lagged and inhibits their ability to meet patient and health systems needs.

The acute care nurse practitioner in Ontario: a workforce study.

In spite of the long history of nurse practitioner practice in primary healthcare, less is known about nurse practitioners in hospital-based environments because until very recently, they have not been included in the extended class registration (nurse practitioner equivalent) with the College of Nurses of Ontario. Recent changes in the regulation of nurse practitioners in Ontario to include adult, paediatric and anaesthesia, indicates that a workforce review of practice profiles is needed to fully understand the depth and breadth of the role within hospital settings. Here, we present information obtained through a descriptive, self-reported survey of all nurse practitioners working in acute care settings who are not currently regulated in the extended class in Ontario. Results suggest wide acceptance of the role is concentrated around academic teaching hospitals. Continued barriers exist related to legislation and regulation as well as understanding and support for the multiple aspects of this role beyond clinical practice. This information may be used by nurse practitioners, nursing leaders and other administrators to position the role in hospital settings for greater impact on patient care. As well, understanding the need for regulatory and legislative changes to support the hospital-based Nurse Practitioner role will enable greater impact on health human resources and healthcare transformation.

Telephone nursing: an emerging practice area.

Governments across Canada and internationally are implementing nurse telephone advice services to their populations as a means to address healthcare access issues. This paper briefly reviews the international and Canadian history of telephone nursing services and outlines the research that has established the relative safety of these services to patients. The standards, competencies and decision systems that support safe tele-practice are reviewed. The paper focuses on the realities of this emerging nursing practice. A number of concerns related to the marriage of clinical practice and call centres are identified that require further dialogue, research and debate within the profession. The call centre environment can lead to a focus on efficiency measures, such as call length and quick turnaround to the next call, without evidence to ensure that these are safe or desirable standards. Quality of work life for staff in call centres is also raised as an issue that requires more research and dialogue. Other issues include cross-jurisdictional licensure, patient safety, privatization and the differing models of telephone nursing services that are being implemented in Canada.