Development of a model of situational leadership in residential care for older people

lynch b.m., McCormack b. & McCance t. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management 19, 1058–1069
Development of a model of situational leadership in residential care for older people Aim The aim of the present study was to present the process used to develop a composite model of situational leadership enacted within a person-centred nursing framework in residential care. Background Transforming the culture of the residential unit from a restrictive institution to a vibrant community of older adults requires transformational leadership. Situational leadership is one form of transformational leadership, which claims that there is not one leadership style that works in all situations. Method A model of situational leadership in residential care was developed through a series of systematic steps that identified direct linkages between situational leadership and the main constructs of the Person-Centred Nursing Framework. The process included reviewing the evidence, undertaking a comparative analysis, identifying key concepts, connecting the concepts and developing a model. Conclusion A conceptual model is presented which integrates person-centredness with leadership thinking in order to effectively impact on the follower’s performance in managing the care environment and delivering person-centred care. Implications for Nursing Management Currently the model is being utilized in an action research study to evaluate the role of leaders in the practice setting of long-term care. While some of the connecting concepts have been identified in the present study, more work needs to be done to unravel these connections in further study of leaders in practice.     

Enhancing students’ preparedness to care for older people: A mixed methods analysis

BackgroundNursing students’ positive attitudes towards ageing and older people are central to developing person-centred care. Perceptions about older people are influenced by social and generational values and beliefs, including a general understanding that older people need to be cared for. Nursing students often undertake early clinical placements in aged care settings, where residents’ needs are complex, yet the nursing experience is often considered ‘basic’ care. Illustrating that older people have rich personal histories and are valuable contributors to society can balance students’ perceptions and expectations and outcomes of clinical placements. Educational interventions using photo-elicitation and in-depth dialogue may surface students’ assumptions and challenge their misperceptions of older people before the first clinical placement.AimTo examine the impact of the innovative Depth of Field: Exploring Ageing © (DOF) resource as preparation for nursing students’ clinical placement in residential aged care facilities.MethodsMixed methods, block randomised controlled study with first year students. Students attending clinical laboratory groups received either usual preparation (control, n = 108) or DOF plus usual preparation (intervention, n = 99). Pre/post surveys included: Geriatric Attitudes Scale (GAS) and demographics. Eight students from the intervention group participated in focus groups post-clinical.FindingsGroups were similar at baseline. There were statistically significant changes following the intervention (p ≤ .05) for 9/13 individual GAS items and difference in overall mean scores (intervention group: M = 0.26; SD = 0.27; control group: M = 0.01; SD = 0.27). Focus group themes included: preconceptions toward older people; feelings of being emotionally unprepared; and perceptions of the DOF intervention in preparing students to connect with the older person.DiscussionThe DOF vignette provided opportunity for students to preflect on ageing. Translation to practice was evidenced with students seeing beyond residents’ physical care requirements to the value of connecting with the older person’s story to facilitate person-centred care.ConclusionsThe DOF intervention assisted students to adopt positive attitudes and a broader perspective of older people, as preparation for placement in residential aged care facilities.     

The factors that influence nurses' use of physical restraint: A thematic literature review

Lane C, Harrington A. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2011; 17 : 195–204 The factors that influence nurses' use of physical restraint: A thematic literature review Difficult clinical situations in both hospitals and aged care facilities might lead to the use of physical restraint on older people. This literature reviewed aimed to identify the factors that influence nurses' use of physical restraint on people aged over 60 years. The prevalence of restraint use in aged care facilities was shown to be between 12% and 47%, with 7% to 17% for hospitalized patients. Database searches retrieved studies published after 1992 that highlighted nurses' use of physical restraint on older people in both acute and aged care settings. The analysis revealed two reasons for decisions to use physical restraint that were categorized as ‘patient safety’ and ‘nurses' workload’. It is important for nurses to understand the nursing culture that perpetuates restraint use, and to consider patient‐centred nursing as an instigator for change.     

Development and acceptability of the person-centred observation and reflection tool for supporting staff and practice development in dementia care services

Background

Observational tools can support the understanding of the complex needs of older people with dementia and aid delivery of person-centred care. However, existing tools are complex and resource intensive to use.

Objectives

To develop and evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a low-resource, observational tool to support staff reflection and practice development.

Methods

Intervention development of the Person-Centred Observation and Reflection Tool (PORT) and acceptability and feasibility study, using surveys and focus groups in the UK, Norway and Spain.

Results

PORT was reported as easy, accessible and acceptable to use. The observation was identified as powerful for individual staff development and provided an evidence-based source for underpinning individualised care planning. Potential time challenges associated with implementation were identified.

Conclusion

Initial evaluation indicates PORT is an acceptable and feasible tool for use in health and social care settings for older people. Further research is needed on implementation models and the impacts of PORT use.

Implications for Practice

PORT may be a useful tool to support individual staff development in care settings and person-centred care planning for people with dementia.     

The person-centred care of older people with cognitive impairment in acute care scale (POPAC)

Aim To construct and evaluate psychometric properties of the person-centred care of older people with cognitive impairment in acute care settings (POPAC) scale. Background Older people with cognitive impairment are admitted frequently to acute care, with needs not always met through standard practice. Best practice models have been suggested, but few assessment scales exist. Methods Psychometric evaluation using statistical estimates of validity and reliability based on an Australian sample of acute care nursing staff (n = 212). Results The final 15-item questionnaire consists of three subscales, ‘using cognitive assessments and care interventions’, ‘using evidence and cognitive expertise’ and ‘individualizing care’. Estimates of validity and reliability were highly satisfactory. Conclusion The POPAC scale makes a valuable contribution by providing valid and reliable measures of the extent to which acute nursing staff report using best practice care processes to identify and consider cognitive impairment and to employ nursing interventions to meet the needs associated with old age and cognitive impairment. Implications for nursing management The POPAC scale is short, easy to administer and not time consuming to complete, but still provides clinically relevant information. It can be used as a conceptual fundament in developing best practice nursing care in the acute clinical setting, as well as for nursing research.     

Using biography to enhance the nursing care of older people

This article describes how the use of the biographical approach in nursing practice should enable a fuller understanding of older people as individuals, based on their lived experience. This, in turn, should affect the way in which nurses work with, and care for, older people, encouraging person-centred practice. First, drawing on a life story, the article describes the ways in which people's accounts of their past lives may provide an insight into their present needs, priorities and aspirations; it also helps to reveal and challenge our assumptions about later life. Second, the article discusses why the biographical approach is particularly appropriate for the care of older people in continuing care settings and how this approach could be undertaken.     

‘I feel like a salesperson’: the effect of multiple‐source care funding on the experiences and views of nursing home nurses in England

The difficulties faced in the recruitment and retention of nursing staff in nursing homes for older people are an international challenge. It is therefore essential that the causes of nurses’ reluctance to work in these settings are determined. This paper considers the influence that multiple‐source care funding issues have on nursing home nurses’ experiences and views regarding the practice and appeal of the role. The methodology for this study was hermeneutic phenomenology. Thirteen nurses from seven nursing homes in the North East of England were interviewed in a sequence of up to five interviews and data were analysed using a literary analysis method. Findings indicate that participants are uncomfortable with the business aspects that funding issues bring to their role. The primary difficulties faced are: tensions between care issues and funding issues; challenges associated with ‘selling beds’; and coping with self‐funding residents’ changing expectations of care. The findings of the study suggest that multiple‐source care funding systems that operate in nursing homes for older people pose challenges to nursing home nurses. Some of these challenges may impact on their recruitment and retention.     

District nurses' experiences of providing care in residential care home settings

Little research describes the involvement and contribution of primary health care services in residential homes, despite policy and research concerns that older people in residential homes are a vulnerable population for whom care must be improved. The aim of this research was to explore the actual and potential contribution of primary care nurses in residential homes for older people, particularly district nurses. Five focus groups were held with district nurses in one county in England, to explore how participants represented their views, values and experiences of working in residential homes. Our major finding was the importance of context in shaping the experience of district nursing involvement. General practitioner attachment determined the frequency of visiting homes and affected workload. District nurses had regular contact with residential homes for discrete nursing tasks, but appropriateness of referrals and input was not agreed. The focus group discussions with district nurses revealed how problematic their work in residential homes was and a lack of consensus about their role. The data suggested that uncertainty about providing care in a setting that straddles the health and social care, public and private divide, and anxieties about managing their workload overshadowed their acknowledged concerns about the older people in residential care homes. Further research is needed to substantiate the findings, obtain residents' views and address issues of how to achieve integrated and equitable health and social care for this group.     

The development and evaluation of an integrated virtual patient case study and related online resources for person-centred nursing practice

Ensuring students develop person-centred practice for diverse groups of people across health care settings is an important outcome of undergraduate nursing education. This paper presents the development and evaluation of a learning innovation, an integrated virtual patient case study and complementary online resources for person-centred nursing practice. The virtual patient case study of an Australian Aboriginal woman diagnosed with breast cancer was integrated within four core subjects of a Bachelor of Nursing program, for a total of 600 second-year students. The evaluation of this learning strategy was encouraging. Students reported that the online learning activities were engaging, particularly due to the level of realism, their understanding of Aboriginal Peoples’ healthcare needs increased, and they developed therapeutic communication skills, applicable in a variety of healthcare contexts. Staff concerns about student wellbeing when learning sensitive content online were unfounded. When carefully planned, a virtual patient case study and online learning resources can support students to enhance their person-centred nursing practice. Further evaluation, including student outcomes through assessment, is an important next step.     

Students' ideals for nursing older people in practice

Aim. Drawing on research exploring nursing students’ experiences of working with older people, this paper aims to demonstrate how context and culture can impact on the realization of their ideals. Background. The principles underpinning individualized and person‐centred approaches to care resonate with those focal to gerontologic nursing. Restrictive contexts of care and pervasive workplace cultures render nurses unable to deliver care in accord with these. Design and method. This interpretive study was informed by phenomenological–hermeneutic theory. A purposive sample (n = 10) was recruited from a single educational institution. Data were generated in two phases using loosely structured interviews and supplementary activity. Themes explicating their experiences were identified via systematized detailed analysis and issues pertaining to nursing students’ orientation towards older people cut across these. Findings and discussion. Students perceived that older people were prone to depersonalization and marginalization, so sought to show respect by coming to know individuals, form human connections with them and personalize care accordingly. Giving respect, promoting personhood, asserting reciprocal identity and maintaining dignity were prominent features of this but were often frustrated by practices and cultures encountered in mainstream settings. Conclusions. Nursing students’ approaches to older people are contextual and reflect elements of person‐centred ideology. Their attempts upholding their ideals are liable to be subverted by workplace norms. Preparatory education should address these, assist students to learn how to attend to personhood in restrictive environments and offer targeted placements in age‐specific and non‐acute services. Relevance to clinical practice. Demographic trends mean that working with older people has increased significance for nurses in most settings. Person‐centredness is seen as beneficial for older people but contemporary service imperatives and enduring practices are inhibitory, preventing entrants to nursing from developing related skills.     

Palliative care in Irish nursing homes: the work of community clinical nurse specialists

AIM: to assess the current level of input from community-based clinical nurse specialists in palliative care into nursing homes in the Republic of Ireland. METHOD: a national survey was undertaken with questionnaires distributed via the National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery database. The total population was 114 community-based clinical nurse specialists in palliative care. FINDINGS: 63 completed questionnaires were returned achieving a 55% response rate. All respondents had undertaken work with nursing homes. The main focus of interactions with nursing homes was on pain and symptom management and this was often provided by telephone. The majority of nurses were involved exclusively in care of patients with cancer, although 40% of respondents cared for patients with non-malignant diseases. CONCLUSIONS: As populations age and more people end their lives in residential care settings, this area of care has increasing relevance. The dissemination of palliative care best practice would ensure that all patients, regardless of their diagnosis, receive the benefits of palliative care at the end of life. Clinical nurse specialists are ideally placed to provide education and support to nursing homes and other residential care settings for older people.     

Practice standards for Australian cardiovascular nurses: An electronic Delphi study

BackgroundProfessional standards for nurse practice protect the public and define the scope of nursing broadly and in specialty areas. Nurses encounter patients with cardiovascular disease in a variety of clinical contexts, and specialty practice standards have the potential to articulate the scope and role expectations for nurses caring for this population. Practice standards and role expectations for nurses caring for cardiovascular patients in Australia were developed through electronic Delphi (eDelphi) technique.AimTo present the development of practice standards and role expectations for Australian cardiovascular nurses.MethodsThree-round eDelphi survey with experts from a broad range of contexts who identified as cardiovascular nurses to reach a consensus on the Practice Standards for Australian Cardiovascular Nurses. External stakeholder agreement was also sought on the final version prior to publication.FindingsThree domains were identified: Clinical Care, Cultural Safety, and Person-Centred Care, and Leadership and Teamwork, and their supporting elements. Role expectations reflected the varied context and scope of practice.DiscussionThese standards describe the scope of cardiovascular nursing practice regardless of context. Underpinning the standards is the recognition of person-centred care and cultural safety. The standards provide a framework for professional recognition, support the delivery of patient care, and may be used to aid curriculum development in cardiovascular nursing education.ConclusionThe eDelphi technique and external stakeholder agreement validated the expected capability of nurses involved in the assessment, management, and evaluation of care for the cardiovascular patient. The standards and role expectations reflect the various contexts where care for the cardiovascular patient occurs.     

Developing children’s nursing care outcome statements in Africa using World Café methods

Nursing metrics use indicators to make the outcomes of nursing care visible through measurement. Metrics must be sensitive to the context-specific nature of nursing and should reflect the work that nurses really do. A workshop at the Building Children’s Nursing conference (2019) was convened to develop statements of nursing care outcomes and actions specific to the work of children’s nurses in African care settings, using the World Café method and the Nightingale Metrics approach. The process resulted in the development of statements as intended. Appropriate nursing metrics can guide data-driven practice improvements and decision-making about supporting the nursing workforce.