Interprofessional collaboration in nursing homes (interprof): development and piloting of measures to improve interprofessional collaboration and communication: a qualitative multicentre study

Abstract

BackgroundGiven both the increase of nursing home residents forecast and challenges of current interprofessional interactions, we developed and tested measures to improve collaboration and communication between nurses and general practitioners (GPs) in this setting. Our multicentre study has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FK 01GY1124).MethodsThe measures were developed iteratively in a continuous process, which is the focus of this article. In part 1 “exploration of the situation”, interviews were conducted with GPs, nurses, nursing home residents and their relatives focusing on interprofessional interactions and medical care. They were analysed qualitatively. Based on these results, in part 2 “development of measures to improve collaboration”, ideas for improvement were developed in nine focus groups with GPs and nurses. These ideas were revisited in a final expert workshop. We analysed the focus groups and expert workshop using mind mapping methods, and finally drew up the compilation of measures. In an exploratory pilot study "study part 3" four nursing homes chose the measures they wanted to adopt. These were tested for three months. Feasibility and acceptance of the measures were evaluated via guideline interviews with the stakeholders which were analysed by content analyses.ResultsSix measures were generated: meetings to establish common goals, main contact person, standardised pro re nata medication, introduction of name badges, improved availability of nurse/GP and standardised scheduling/ procedure for nursing home visits. In the pilot study, the measures were implemented in four nursing homes. GPs and nurses reviewed five measures as feasible and acceptable, only the designation of a “main contact person” was not considered as an improvement.ConclusionsSix measures to improve collaboration and communication could be compiled in a multistep qualitative process respecting the perspectives of involved stakeholders. Five of the six measures were positively assessed in an exploratory pilot study. They could easily be transferred into the daily routine of other nursing homes, as no special models have to exist in advance. Impact of the measures on patient oriented outcomes should be examined in further research.Trial registrationNot applicable.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-017-0678-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Implementation of a Complex Health Services Intervention in Long-term Care Homes: A Process Evaluation Using Focus Groups

“…Participants in our study valued the newly built teams of GPs and the contact persons within NHs. The implementation of a xed contact person was not seen as useful in a previous qualitative study assessing interprofessional collaboration in nursing homes in Germany (23). However, the authors noted that the lack of perceived usefulness was due to NHs already having a xed contact person for GPs before the intervention (23).…”

“…The implementation of a xed contact person was not seen as useful in a previous qualitative study assessing interprofessional collaboration in nursing homes in Germany (23). However, the authors noted that the lack of perceived usefulness was due to NHs already having a xed contact person for GPs before the intervention (23). Thus, it can be hypothesized that a xed contact person is perceived as useful when newly implemented in a NH.…”

Effects of strategies to improve general practitioner-nurse collaboration and communication in regard to hospital admissions of nursing home residents (interprof ACT): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

“…It is rather expected that all participating NHRs as well as the involved GPs and care staff will benefit from the interprof ACT measures. First, positive results have been gathered from interviews after the three-monthly pilot study interprof with four nursing homes [ 31 ].…”

“…Established co-operations with care facilities and GPs (e.g. research networks), their experience with interprofessional projects such as the interprof study [ 31 ] and the collaboration with the experts committee contribute to a robust study design.…”

“…In this pilot study, the participating facilities could choose measures according to their needs and implemented them for a 3-month period. GPs and nurses evaluated the measures positively with regard to feasibility and acceptance [ 31 ]. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the effect of these interventions in a larger group of NHRs.…”