Thirty to sixty per cent of older patients experience functional decline after hospitalisation, associated with an increase in dependence, readmission, nursing home placement and mortality. First step in prevention is the identification of patients at risk. The objective of this study is to develop and validate a prediction model to assess the risk of functional decline in older hospitalised patients.
Background: In Turkey, nursing care in hospitals has gradually included more older patients, resulting in a need for knowledgeable geriatric nurses. It is unknown, however, whether the nursing workforce is ready for this increase. Therefore, the aim of this study is to validate the Knowledge about Older Patients Quiz (KOPQ) in the Turkish language and culture, to describe Turkish hospital nurses’ knowledge about older patients, and to compare levels of knowledge between Turkish and Dutch hospital nurses. Conclusions: The KOPQ-TR is promising for use in Turkey, although psychometric validation should be repeated using a better targeted sample with a larger ability variance to adequately assess the Person Separation Index and Person Reliability. Currently, education regarding care for older patients is not sufficiently represented in Turkish nursing curricula. However, the need to do so is evident, as the results demonstrate that knowledge deficits and an increase in older patients admitted to the hospital will eventually occur. International comparison and cooperation provides an opportunity to learn from other countries that currently face the challenge of an aging (hospital) population.
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Abstract: Background: Hip fracture in older patients often lead to permanent disabilities and can result in mortality. Objective: To identify distinct disability trajectories from admission to one-year post-discharge in acutely hospitalized older patients after hip fracture. Design: Prospective cohort study, with assessments at admission, three-months and one-year post-discharge. Setting and participants: Patients ≥ 65 years admitted to a 1024-bed tertiary teaching hospital in the Netherlands. Methods: Disability was the primary outcome and measured with the modified Katz ADL-index score. A secondary outcome was mortality. Latent class growth analysis was performed to detect distinct disability trajectories from admission and Cox regression was used to analyze the effect of the deceased patients to one-year after discharge. Results: The mean (SD) age of the 267 patients was 84.0 (6.9) years. We identified 3 disability trajectories based on the Katz ADL-index score from admission to one-year post-discharge: ‘mild’- (n=54 (20.2%)), ‘moderate’- (n=110 (41.2%)) and ‘severe’ disability (n=103 (38.6%)). Patients in all three trajectories showed an increase of disabilities at three months, in relation to baseline and 80% did not return to baseline one-year post-discharge. Seventy-three patients (27.3%) deceased within one-year post-discharge, particularly in the ‘moderate’- (n=22 (8.2%)) and ‘severe’ disability trajectory (n=47 (17.6%)). Conclusions: Three disability trajectories were identified from hospital admission until one-year follow-up in acutely hospitalized older patients after hip fracture. Most patients had substantial functional decline and 27% of the patient’s deceased one-year post-discharge, mainly patients in the ‘moderate’- ‘and severe’ disability trajectories.
Chronische pijn is een groot, complex en duur probleem en heeft een grote impact op de kwaliteit van leven van patiënten, dagelijks functioneren, stemming en ziekteverzuim. Er zijn verschillende interventies ontwikkeld die met name gericht zijn op het beïnvloeden en veranderen van het gedrag waarbij zelfmanagement een belangrijke rol speelt. Echter het bestendigen van resultaten op lange termijn blijkt een groot probleem en leidt zelfs tot terugval naar “oud” gedrag waardoor patiënten opnieuw vaak kostbare hulp gaan zoeken. Er zijn twee additionele interventies ontwikkeld in een eerder RAAK-project (SOLACE) ter voorkoming van deze terugval: “Do It Your Self” en “Waarde gerichte Doelen” , echter de werkzaamheid van deze interventies op de lange termijn is niet onderzocht. Een eerste feasibility studie lijkt veelbelovend met positieve effecten naar de bruikbaarheid van deze interventies in de betrokken revalidatiecentra. Vanuit dit werkveld maar ook vanuit de patiënten kwam nadrukkelijk de vraag om deze interventies op effectiviteit te toetsen. Dit heeft geleid tot de onderzoeksvraag; “Is een additionele interventie (do it yourself en/of waarde gerichte doelen) gericht op het blijven toepassen van aangeleerde vaardigheden na een succesvol doorlopen pijn programma effectief in het bestendigen van de resultaten op de lange termijn en leidt dit tot een afname van het zorggebruik.” Het onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd in twee werkpakketten; (1) het ontwikkelen van een bruikbare app voor de ontwikkelde interventies in samenwerking met DIO Design en (2) een effectiviteit studie in de revalidatiecentra Adelante in Hoensbroek en Maastricht, Libra R&A locatie Weert en Heliomare Revalidatie in Wijk aan Zee. De doelstelling van het consortium is om de samen met zorgprofessionals, patiënten, beroepsvereniging en ontwerpers een product ter voorkoming van terugval verder te ontwikkelen en te toetsen. Na afronding van dit project zijn de op effectiviteit getoetste additionele interventies, DIY en WD, klaar om landelijk te worden uitgerold.
Physical rehabilitation programs revolve around the repetitive execution of exercises since it has been proven to lead to better rehabilitation results. Although beginning the motor (re)learning process early is paramount to obtain good recovery outcomes, patients do not normally see/experience any short-term improvement, which has a toll on their motivation. Therefore, patients find it difficult to stay engaged in seemingly mundane exercises, not only in terms of adhering to the rehabilitation program, but also in terms of proper execution of the movements. One way in which this motivation problem has been tackled is to employ games in the rehabilitation process. These games are designed to reward patients for performing the exercises correctly or regularly. The rewards can take many forms, for instance providing an experience that is engaging (fun), one that is aesthetically pleasing (appealing visual and aural feedback), or one that employs gamification elements such as points, badges, or achievements. However, even though some of these serious game systems are designed together with physiotherapists and with the patients’ needs in mind, many of them end up not being used consistently during physical rehabilitation past the first few sessions (i.e. novelty effect). Thus, in this project, we aim to 1) Identify, by means of literature reviews, focus groups, and interviews with the involved stakeholders, why this is happening, 2) Develop a set of guidelines for the successful deployment of serious games for rehabilitation, and 3) Develop an initial implementation process and ideas for potential serious games. In a follow-up application, we intend to build on this knowledge and apply it in the design of a (set of) serious game for rehabilitation to be deployed at one of the partners centers and conduct a longitudinal evaluation to measure the success of the application of the deployment guidelines.
The project aims to improve palliative care in China through the competence development of Chinese teachers, professionals, and students focusing on the horizontal priority of digital transformation.Palliative care (PC) has been recognised as a public health priority, and during recent years, has seen advances in several aspects. However, severe inequities in the access and availability of PC worldwide remain. Annually, approximately 56.8 million people need palliative care, where 25.7% of the care focuses on the last year of person’s life (Connor, 2020).China has set aims for reaching the health care standards of the developed countries by 2030 through the Healthy China Strategy 2030, where one of the improvement areas in health care includes palliative care, thus continuing the previous efforts.The project provides a constructive, holistic, and innovative set of actions aimed at resulting in lasting outcomes and continued development of palliative care education and services. Raising the awareness of all stakeholders on palliative care, including the public, is highly relevant and needed. Evidence based practice guidelines and education are urgently required for both general and specialised palliative care levels, to increase the competencies for health educators, professionals, and students. This is to improve the availability and quality of person-centered palliative care in China. Considering the aging population, increase in various chronic illnesses, the challenging care environment, and the moderate health care resources, competence development and the utilisation of digitalisation in palliative care are paramount in supporting the transition of experts into the palliative care practice environment.General objective of the project is to enhance the competences in palliative care in China through education and training to improve the quality of life for citizens. Project develops the competences of current and future health care professionals in China to transform the palliative care theory and practice to impact the target groups and the society in the long-term. As recognised by the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), palliative care competences need to be developed in collaboration. This includes shared willingness to learn from each other to improve the sought outcomes in palliative care (EAPC 2019). Since all individuals have a right to health care, project develops person-centered and culturally sensitive practices taking into consideration ethics and social norms. As concepts around palliative care can focus on physical, psychological, social, or spiritual related illnesses (WHO 2020), project develops innovative pedagogy focusing on evidence-based practice, communication, and competence development utilising digital methods and tools. Concepts of reflection, values and views are in the forefront to improve palliative care for the future. Important aspects in project development include health promotion, digital competences and digital health literacy skills of professionals, patients, and their caregivers. Project objective is tied to the principles of the European Commission’s (EU) Digital Decade that stresses the importance of placing people and their rights in the forefront of the digital transformation, while enhancing solidarity, inclusion, freedom of choice and participation. In addition, concepts of safety, security, empowerment, and the promotion of sustainable actions are valued. (European Commission: Digital targets for 2030).Through the existing collaboration, strategic focus areas of the partners, and the principles of the call, the PalcNet project consortium was formed by the following partners: JAMK University of Applied Sciences (JAMK ), Ramon Llull University (URL), Hanze University of Applied Sciences (HUAS), Beijing Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), Guangzhou Health Science College (GHSC), Beihua University (BHU), and Harbin Medical University (HMU). As project develops new knowledge, innovations and practice through capacity building, finalisation of the consortium considered partners development strategy regarding health care, (especially palliative care), ability to create long-term impact, including the focus on enhancing higher education according to the horizontal priority. In addition, partners’ expertise and geographical location was also considered important to facilitate long-term impact of the results.Primary target groups of the project include partner country’s (China) staff members, teachers, researchers, health care professionals and bachelor level students engaging in project implementation. Secondary target groups include those groups who will use the outputs and results and continue in further development in palliative care upon the lifetime of the project.
