Further Application of the Care Transitions Intervention: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial Conducted in a Fee-For-Service Setting

The study objective was to test whether a self-care model for transitional care that has been demonstrated to improve outcomes in Medicare Advantage populations—The Care Transitions Intervention—could also improve outcomes in a Medicare fee-for-service population. Intervention patients were less likely to be readmitted to a hospital in general and for the same condition that prompted their index hospitalization at 30, 90, and 180 days versus control patients. Coaching chronically ill older patients and their caregivers to ensure that their needs are met during care transitions may reduce the rate of subsequent rehospitalization in a Medicare fee-for-service population.     

Concern About Past Trauma Among Nursing Home Admissions: Report From Screening 722 Admissions

ObjectiveMajor life changes can trigger a traumatic stress response in older adults causing trauma symptoms to resurface. In 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the requirement, without specific guidance, for trauma-informed care (TIC) as part of person-centered care in long-term care.DesignObservational, cross-sectional.Setting and ParticipantsA total of 722 new admissions at one nursing home in metro Atlanta between November 2019 and July 2021.MethodsWe developed a “TRAUMA” framework for TIC screening based on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration resources. The admissions nurse conducted TIC screening within 48 hours of new admissions, including reported trauma and necessary modifications to care plans. Demographic information was derived from electronic records. Analysis included independent sample t-tests, binary logistic regression, and χ² tests. All data were analyzed using SPSS v. 28.ResultsOf 722 new admissions, 45 (6.2%) indicated experiencing trauma. There was no significant association with being Black or non-White and experiencing trauma, but there was a significant association with being female and experiencing trauma (χ² (1) = 5.206, P = .022). Only men reported child physical abuse and war trauma and only women reported adult sexual assault, child sexual assault, adult domestic violence, school or community violence, adult nonintimate partner violence, and other trauma. There was a small, significant negative association of age and trauma (β = ?0.037; SE = 0.11; P < .001). The most-reported trauma category was medical trauma, including COVID-related trauma. More than half (51%) requested spiritual intervention and only 2 requested medical intervention with medication as initial interventions.Conclusions and ImplicationsOur experience suggests that knowing the patient and their trauma history allowed the admissions nurse and interdisciplinary care team to modify the person-centered care plan to best meet the patient's needs. Our results also emphasize the need for using universal trauma precautions in all interactions.     

The costs of care: An ethnography of care work in residential homes for older people

The cost of social care, the work conditions experienced by care workers and the quality of care provided by residential homes for older people are all linked, yet we know very little about how this relationship works in practice. Drawing upon an ethnography of two differently priced residential care homes for older people in Southern England, I examine the implications of different financial regimes for care-giving practices. I show how the scheduling and allocation of resources—conveyed, for example, in formal routines and staffing levels—structure the care workers’ time, tasks and activities in each setting. This acts to symbolically demarcate what, or who, is valued. I argue that the availability of resources facilitates and impedes the symbolic culture of care work, shapes care workers’ ability to afford dignity to the individuals in their care and affects how care workers experience, and relate to, their labour. I conclude by discussing how current practices of funding and pricing social care have effects seeping beyond the practical and measurable, and into the realm of the symbolic.     

Multiple Funding Sources

No abstract available for this article.     

The care receivers perspective: How care‐dependent people struggle with accepting help from family members,friends and neighbours

In many countries in north‐western Europe, the welfare state is changing, and governments expect a great deal of informal care. In the Netherlands, citizens are also increasingly expected to rely on informal instead of professional care. In this study, we aim to determine to what extent Dutch care‐dependent people want to rely on social network members and what reasons they raise for accepting or refusing informal care. To answer this question, we observed 65 so‐called ‘kitchen table talks’, in which social workers assess citizens’ care needs and examine to what extent relatives, friends and/or neighbours can provide help and care. We also interviewed 50 professionals and 30 people in need of care. Our findings show that a great deal of informal care is already given (in 46 out of 65 cases), especially between people who have a close emotional bond. For this reason, people in need of care often find it difficult to ask their family members, friends or neighbours for extra assistance. People are afraid to overburden their family members, friends or neighbours. Another reason people in need of care raise against informal care is that they feel ashamed of becoming dependent. Although the government wants to change the meaning of autonomy by emphasising that people are autonomous when they rely on social network members, people who grew up in the heyday of the welfare state feel embarrassed and ashamed when they are not able to reciprocate. Our findings imply that policymakers and social professionals need to reconsider the idea that resources of informal care are inexhaustible and that citizens can look after each other much more than they already do. It is important that social policymakers approach the codes and norms underlying social relations more cautiously because pressure on these relations can have negative effects.     

Long-Term Care Insurance in China: Public or Private?

China faces an overwhelming and urgent need for long-term care (LTC). We explored long-term care insurance (LTCI) plans in China and the factors associated with each plan’s contribution rate. A cross-sectional survey of 814 residents (18–59 years) was conducted to assess the expectations of elderly care, public and private LTCI features. Public LTCI may be more popular whether in terms of participation or contribution. The factors associated with public LTCI contribution rate were healthcare costs, household income, and number of daughters; for private LTCI, the factors were the proportion of living expenditures, worry about future care problems, and healthcare costs. Policymakers should develop public LTCI as a solid foundation and improve private LTCI as a substitute to meet the urgent LTC needs in China.     

The quality and adequacy of care received at home in the last 3 months of life by people who died following a stroke: a retrospective survey of surviving family and friends using the Views of Informal Carers Evaluation of Services questionnaire

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the UK. Despite this, little is known about the care needs of people who die from or following a stroke. In early 2003, a total of 183 questionnaires were returned from a survey of 493 people who had registered a stroke-related death in four Primary Care Trusts, giving a response rate of 37%. This paper reports on 53 deceased from the survey who had lived at home during their last 3 months and who had been ill for more than 1 month. The data were analysed to explore the role of informal carers and the provision of community-based care in the last 3 months of life. Family and friends helped 82% of deceased with household tasks, 68% with personal care, 66% with taking medication and 54% with night-time care. By contrast, health and social services helped 30% with household tasks, 54% with personal care, 20% with taking medication and 6% with night-time care. Two-fifths (43%) of informants had to give up work or make major life changes to care for the deceased, and 26% of informants found looking after them 'rewarding'. Half (51%) reported that help and support from health services were excellent or good compared to 38% for social services. Results from the Regional Study of Care for the Dying indicated that people who died from a stroke in 1990 and their informal carers would have benefited from increased levels of community-based care and enhanced communication with care professionals. Our data suggest that informal carers continue to provide the majority of care for those who die from stroke, despite government initiatives to improve care for stroke patients and frail elderly people. Further research is required to explore best practice and service provision in caring for this group.     

Retention of Clients in Service Under Two Models of Home Health Care for HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine if a Transprofessional, care-management approach (experimental group) produces different patterns of retention in home treatment as compared to a Traditional treatment approach (control group). The care-management approach utilizes an interdisciplinary mix of allied health professionals who adhere to a service delivery protocol based on active medical, surgical treatment (curative services) as well as on pain, symptoms, and emotional care (palliative services). Initially, the Transprofessional Model should lead to a greater retention rate in the program as patients bond to blended care managers, but in later stages clients needing hospice should be moved off-services resulting in lower retention rates in the medical-surgical home care venue.

Data Sources and Study Setting: Data were collected from 549 AIDS patients admitted for medical/surgical home-care services to the Visiting Nurse Association of Los Angeles (VNA-LA). Demographic and disease-specific data were collected from admitting records; service-utilization data were collected from the VNA-LA's computerized data system.

Study Design: Upon admission for home-care services, patients were randomly assigned to an experimental (Transprofessional) or control (Traditional) treatment group. Service levels were comparable.

Primary Finding: In the earliest stages, Transprofessional patients tend to be more likely to stay in treatment, probably due to the greater bonding to the program. After about one year, the Transprofessional patients are more likely to leave the program as they are transitioned into hospice care.

Conclusions: An integrated model of service delivery, which is based on interdisciplinary care-management and blended modalities of service, provides a quality of life enhancing and a cost-effective method in the provision of home-care services for terminally ill AIDS patients.     

Quantifying posthospital care transitions in older patients

BACKGROUND: Older patients frequently receive care in multiple settings. However, there has been a paucity of studies that quantify the number of care transitions or that attempt to explain utilization patterns over a given time period. Furthermore, no studies have examined transitions based on method of payment. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the number of different posthospital interinstitutional transfers (including hospital, inpatient rehabilitation facilities [IRF], and skilled nursing facilities [SNF]) by method of payment (managed Care [MC] or fee-for-service [FFS]). DESIGN: Prospective cohort followed for 12 months. Method: A total of 1055 older patients were identified on transfer from an acute hospital to either an SNF or IRF. Utilization and mortality was tracked over 12 months through analysis of administrative data, chart review, nursing assessments, and patient interviews. RESULTS: After 3 months, 65.3% of MC patients and 75.6% of FFS patients experienced between two and three transfers and an additional 13.8% of MC patients and 14.6% of FFS patients experienced between four and six transfers. Over the next 9 months, the frequency of patient transfers uniformly declined in both payment groups. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that interinstitutional transfers are common in older patients. The majority of these transfers occurred within the first 3 months after hospital discharge for both payment groups. Understanding the frequency and patterns of posthospital care transitions is an important step toward designing innovative approaches to improve the quality of care transitions and ensuring patient safety across settings.     

英国整合型保健发展经验及启示

通过现场观察与深度访谈的定性研究方法,总结了英格兰NHS整合型保健的做法和经验,并针对我国卫生服务体系存在的碎片化问题,提出了相关的政策建议:大力发展初级卫生保健和社区卫生服务,加强以全科医生为核心的多学科服务团队建设,建立全科医生"守门人"制度,建立相关政府部门间的沟通协作机制,在社区层面横向整合多方社会服务资源等。     

互补还是替代：家庭照料与社区居家养老服务

文章使用国家卫生健康委2014年开展的中国计划生育家庭发展追踪调查数据,采用Probit模型和工具变量方法,实证检验家庭老年照料与社区上门生活护理服务和社区上门医疗服务之间的关系。研究发现：（1）家庭照料会显著减少老年人使用社区上门生活护理服务的概率,二者呈替代关系,但是在高龄和中、重度失能老人中,两者呈互补关系;（2）对于上门医疗服务则存在互补关系,家庭照料会显著增加老年人使用社区上门医疗服务的概率,但是在低收入老年人中,二者存在替代关系。文章建议社区居家养老服务体系建设要注重与家庭照料之间的协调发展,特别要关注高龄、中、重度失能和低收入老年人群体的照料需求,实现家庭照料与社区居家养老服务的优势互补。     

Home Health Care Post-PPS

California home health data for the years 1982 through 1987 are analyzed to explore the effects of the implementation of the Prospective Payment System in 1983 and the increase in denial rate for Medicare reimbursed home care in late 1985. After 1983 the following declined: average number of patients per agency, average number of visits per patient, number of freestanding agencies and percentage of reimbursement from Medicare. After 1985 there were declines in the number of patients served, total number of visits, average number of visits per aged client, and number of agencies (proprietary and non-profit) submitting annual reports.     

Changing discourses and changing institutional child substitute care: new terms and processes toward family-like and family-based care

This article is an attempt to analyse and describe the process of change in child substitute care that has taken place since the re-independence of Estonia in 1991. These changes started with adopting new terms and ideas. However, while international terminology and concepts have been accepted, local conditions affect this acceptance of concepts as well as their practical development. In the present article, the aim is to look at the process of changing discourse in Estonian institutional substitute care. Overall, it was found that, in the reform of substitute care, the way in which and the extent to which new concepts have been applied through current activities are not enough to achieve internal changes in the development of the substitute care itself. Although family-like care and family-based care have been promoted and applied, the nature of these terms and their place in child substitute care remain dormant. It seems that, contrary to the desired goal of decreasing the burden of institutional substitute care, this burden has in fact increased. In addition, an issue of concern needing attention is a remarkable tension between paid professional and relationship-based care.     

上海市徐汇区流动人口孕产妇保健研究

目的：了解城市外来人口孕产妇保健状况。方法：调查上海两医院１９９５年１月～１９９７年２月的分娩病历,并以问卷形式调查来医院分娩的产妇。结果：外来孕产妇及新生儿健康状况明显差于本地人,主要原因是缺少合理的产前保健。文化程度、妇幼保健知识及经济收入是影响是否接受孕产期保健的因素。结论：在加强健康教育和文化教育,促进外来孕产妇主动积极地接受孕产期保健的同时,也要从保健制度方面作些改革,以减少外来孕产妇接受孕产期保健的困难和阻力。     

孕前保健服务的内涵及现状分析

通过文献归纳分析、供需双方访谈及现场调查,系统阐述了孕前保健服务的价值及内涵,分析了孕前保健服务在我国的开展现状,从政策、供方及需方等方面探讨了我国孕前保健服务未系统开展的原因,并就我国孕前保健服务开展的机构、时机和内容进行了专家意向访谈,提出了我国孕前保健服务亟需解决的问题。     

Quality of care in rehabilitation medicine.

This paper discusses the generally accepted approaches to the study of the quality of care in medical rehabilitation. It reviews clements of structure, process and outcome of rehabilitation care that are relevant during various phases of rehabilitation and suggests drawing criteria and standards for assessment of quality from these elements of care.     

From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider

The Triple Aim—enhancing patient experience, improving population health, and reducing costs—is widely accepted as a compass to optimize health system performance. Yet physicians and other members of the health care workforce report widespread burnout and dissatisfaction. Burnout is associated with lower patient satisfaction, reduced health outcomes, and it may increase costs. Burnout thus imperils the Triple Aim. This article recommends that the Triple Aim be expanded to a Quadruple Aim, adding the goal of improving the work life of health care providers, including clinicians and staff.     

Informal care and health care use of older adults

Informal care by adult children is a common form of long-term care for older adults and can reduce medical expenditures if it substitutes for formal care. We address how informal care by all children affects formal care, which is critically important given demographic trends and the many policies proposed to promote informal care. We examine the 1998 Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and 1995 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest-Old Panel Survey (AHEAD) using two-part utilization models. Instrumental variables (IV) estimation controls for the simultaneity of informal and formal care. Informal care reduces home health care use and delays nursing home entry.