Improving Nursing Home Care Through Feedback On PerfoRMance Data

Summary

This project will evaluate three different strategies to get research findings back to managers of care units in nursing homes. Feedback will be provided in a timely and effective way so that it results in improvements in organizational context (modifiable features of the care unit work environment, such as Formal Interactions, Informal Interactions, Social Capital or Slack Time), quality of care providers' work life (e.g., burnout, job satisfaction, general health) and quality of care. Three feedback packages will be tested to determine the strategy that is most effective at fostering improvements and is also cost-effective. The project will be carried out in nursing homes in Alberta and British Columbia. The information developed will contribute to better care for Canadian seniors who spend their final years in a nursing home.

Conditions

• Organizational Context

Interventions

OTHER

Initial face-to-face dissemination workshop

Managers and directors of care will receive a printed report (tailored to their facility) on their facility's performance and performance of each unit (microsystem) within that facility. The workshop will include a presentation of the feedback reports with a particular focus on the core set of actionable context targets (Formal Interactions, Evaluation, Social Capital, Organizational Slack (OS) - Time) in the face-to-face workshops. Following the presentation, participants will discuss their reports in facilitated, round-table group discussions to a) help with interpretation of the results overall, b) draw attention to elements of context that are modifiable, c) encourage microsystem teams to work on improving the more modifiable areas

OTHER

Face-to-face goal setting workshop

Sessions will build on the dissemination workshops and will be held three months after. Feedback reports on Formal Interactions, Evaluation, Social Capital, and Organizational Slack (OS) - Time will be discussed. Small group activities will take place including: a) reflecting on context data, b) performance goal setting using the 'tell and sell' method, which capitalizes on the workshop leaders' perceived expertise about what goals are achievable, c) establishing a series of proximal learning goals that will provide teams with explicit strategies for attaining performance goals set in (b). An action plan and instructions for reporting back at the Virtual Support Workshop will be provided.

OTHER

Virtual support workshops

On virtual support workshop will be held six months after the feedback and goal setting workshop, and a second one another six months later. Groups will a) report on their progress in the proximal learning goals and strategies used toward their performance goals, b) discuss challenges they may be encountering, and c) receive support from the research team in addressing these challenges.

OTHER

Face-to-face support workshops

On face-to-face support workshop will be held six months after the feedback and goal setting workshop, and a second one another six months later. Groups will a) report on their progress in the proximal learning goals and strategies used toward their performance goals, b) discuss challenges they may be encountering, and c) receive support from the research team in addressing these challenges. Workshops will be attended by all participating teams from a region, to maximize opportunities for teams to learn from one another and trouble-shoot together with the support of workshop leaders.

OTHER

On-demand email and telephone support

Participants can contact the research team if needed with requests for support in defining or implementing improvement strategies or dealing with barriers towards improvement.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Alberta

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Carole A Estabrooks, PhD · University of Alberta

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-03-01

Primary Completion

2017-12-31

Completion

2019-12-31