Conclusion

Couturier, Yves; Gagnon, Dominique; Belzile, Louise; Salles, Mylène

doi:10.4000/books.pum.5476

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, case management can be defined as a process to help a home care recipient develop a plan that coordinates and integrates the services needed to optimise their health-related goals and outcomes [ 19 , 20 ]. As such, it involves assigning a professional to assess and respond to the home care recipient’s needs and their interconnections [ 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Case managers are often professionals extensively trained in clinical, medical, psychosocial, or rehabilitation [ 22 ]. Their role is to assess older adults with complex needs as well as plan and coordinate services according to those needs [ 21 ], through the development of individualised plans, connections with relevant service providers, problem solving and reassessment [ 23 ]. Case managers intervene directly and indirectly with older adults.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tensions experienced by case managers working in home care for older adults in Quebec: first level analysis of an institutional ethnography

Ethier,

Dubois,

Savaria

et al. 2024

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Case managers play a vital role in integrating the necessary services to optimise health-related goals and outcomes. Studies suggest that in home care, case managers encounter tensions in their day-to-day work, that is, disjuncture between what they should do, in theory, and what they actually do, in practice. However, direct exploration of these tensions is lacking. As such, this study aimed to describe the tensions encountered by case managers in public home care for older adults in Quebec and their influence on day-to-day work. Methods An institutional ethnography was conducted through observations of work, interviews and a survey with case managers working in home care in Quebec. Data were analysed using institutional ethnography first-level analysis procedures. This included mapping the work sequences as well as identifying the tensions experienced by case managers through the words they used. Results Three main tensions were identified. First, case managers perceive that, despite working to return hospitalised older adults at home safely, their work also aims to help free up hospital beds. Thus, they often find themselves needing to respond quickly to hospital-related inquiries or expedite requests for home care services. Second, they are supposed to delegate the care to “partners” (e.g., private organisations). However, they feel that they are in effect managing the quality of the services provided by the “partners.” Consequently, they go to great lengths to ensure that good care will be provided. Finally, they must choose between meeting organisational requirements (e.g., reporting statistics about the work, documenting information in the older adults’ file, doing mandatory assessments) and spending time providing direct care. This often leads to prioritising direct care provision over administrative tasks, resulting in minimal reporting of essential information. Conclusion The results are discussed using the three lenses of professional practice context analyses (i.e., accountability, ethics, and professional-as-worker) to formulate recommendations for practice and research. They suggest that, despite their important role, case managers have limited power in home care (e.g., with partners, with the hospital).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%