{"title":"Nursing Practice for Early Detection of Long-Term Care Resident Deterioration: A Qualitative Study","authors":"Hirofumi Ogawara, Hiroki Fukahori, Yuriko Mashida, Sachiko Matsumoto, Katsumi Nasu, Ardith Z Doorenbos","doi":"10.1111/opn.70014","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Introduction</h3>\n \n <p>In long-term care (LTC) facilities, nurses play a key role in detecting changes in residents' health conditions and preventing avoidable emergency transfers and hospitalisations through multidisciplinary collaboration. This study aimed to explore how nurses detect changes that indicate the deterioration in LTC residents' conditions.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Methods</h3>\n \n <p>Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 nurses from 14 LTC facilities. Data from these interviews were qualitatively analysed using coding and constant comparison methods.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Results</h3>\n \n <p>The three main categories were ‘preparing’, ‘assessing’ and ‘judging’. Nurses worked closely with care workers who spent a considerable amount of time with the residents, and by sharing information, the nurses could rapidly respond to changes in the residents' conditions. They also evaluated the risk of residents experiencing changes by leveraging their clinical experience.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Conclusion</h3>\n \n <p>This study found that LTC nurses should collaborate with care workers to enhance their health assessment skills, enabling them to detect changes in residents' conditions. Findings from this study can be used to promote collaboration between nurses and care workers and to develop effective educational interventions to improve nursing practice in LTC facilities.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Implications for Practice</h3>\n \n <p>This study underscores the necessity of nurses' ability to identify early deterioration in LTC residents. The findings reveal key symptoms and warning signs that nurses should prioritize in their assessments. By leveraging clinical experience and close observation, nurses can make timely and effective decisions to address residents' health changes, preventing further deterioration and enhancing their quality of life.</p>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":48651,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Older People Nursing","volume":"20 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/opn.70014","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Older People Nursing","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opn.70014","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction
In long-term care (LTC) facilities, nurses play a key role in detecting changes in residents' health conditions and preventing avoidable emergency transfers and hospitalisations through multidisciplinary collaboration. This study aimed to explore how nurses detect changes that indicate the deterioration in LTC residents' conditions.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 nurses from 14 LTC facilities. Data from these interviews were qualitatively analysed using coding and constant comparison methods.
Results
The three main categories were ‘preparing’, ‘assessing’ and ‘judging’. Nurses worked closely with care workers who spent a considerable amount of time with the residents, and by sharing information, the nurses could rapidly respond to changes in the residents' conditions. They also evaluated the risk of residents experiencing changes by leveraging their clinical experience.
Conclusion
This study found that LTC nurses should collaborate with care workers to enhance their health assessment skills, enabling them to detect changes in residents' conditions. Findings from this study can be used to promote collaboration between nurses and care workers and to develop effective educational interventions to improve nursing practice in LTC facilities.
Implications for Practice
This study underscores the necessity of nurses' ability to identify early deterioration in LTC residents. The findings reveal key symptoms and warning signs that nurses should prioritize in their assessments. By leveraging clinical experience and close observation, nurses can make timely and effective decisions to address residents' health changes, preventing further deterioration and enhancing their quality of life.
期刊介绍:
International Journal of Older People Nursing welcomes scholarly papers on all aspects of older people nursing including research, practice, education, management, and policy. We publish manuscripts that further scholarly inquiry and improve practice through innovation and creativity in all aspects of gerontological nursing. We encourage submission of integrative and systematic reviews; original quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research; secondary analyses of existing data; historical works; theoretical and conceptual analyses; evidence based practice projects and other practice improvement reports; and policy analyses. All submissions must reflect consideration of IJOPN''s international readership and include explicit perspective on gerontological nursing. We particularly welcome submissions from regions of the world underrepresented in the gerontological nursing literature and from settings and situations not typically addressed in that literature. Editorial perspectives are published in each issue. Editorial perspectives are submitted by invitation only.