Abstract
BackgroundWith rising numbers of elderly people living in nursing homes in Germany, the need for on-site primary care is increasing. A lack of primary care in nursing homes can lead to unnecessary hospitalization, higher mortality, and morbidity in the elderly. The project CoCare (“coordinated medical care”) has therefore implemented a complex health intervention in nursing homes, using inter alia, regular medical rounds, a shared patient medical record and medication checks, with the aim of improving the coordination of medical care. This study reports upon the results of a qualitative study assessing the perceived barriers and facilitators of the implementation of CoCare by stakeholders.MethodsFocus group interviews were held between October 2018 and November 2019 with nurses, general practitioners and GP’s assistants working or consulting in a participating nursing home. A semi-structured modular guideline was used to ask participants for their opinion on different aspects of CoCare and which barriers and facilitators they perceived. Focus groups were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsIn total, N = 11 focus group interviews with N = 74 participants were conducted. We found six themes describing barriers and facilitators in respect of the implementation of CoCare: understaffing, bureaucracy, complexity, structural barriers, financial compensation, communication and collaboration. Furthermore, participants described the incorporation of the intervention into standard care.ConclusionBarriers perceived by stakeholders are well known in the literature (e.g. understaffing and complexity). However, CoCare provides a good structure to overcome barriers and some barriers will dissolve after implementation into routine care (e.g. bureaucracy). In contrast, especially communication and collaboration were perceived as facilitators in CoCare, with the project being received as a team building intervention itself.Trial registrationWHO UTN: U1111–1196-6611; DRKS-ID: DRKS00012703 (Date of Registration in DRKS: 2017 Aug 23).
Highlights
With rising numbers of elderly people living in nursing homes in Germany, the need for on-site primary care is increasing
Other reports show a lack of primary care in Nursing Home (NH) [6], leading to unnecessary hospitalizations for the elderly [7,8,9]
The insufficient availability of general practitioners (GPs) and acute care were identified to be the main reasons for unnecessary hospital admissions in several studies [8, 13]
Summary
With rising numbers of elderly people living in nursing homes in Germany, the need for on-site primary care is increasing. A lack of primary care in nursing homes can lead to unnecessary hospitalization, higher mortality, and morbidity in the elderly. The project CoCare (“coordinated medical care”) has implemented a complex health intervention in nursing homes, using inter alia, regular medical rounds, a shared patient medical record and medication checks, with the aim of improving the coordination of medical care. Older age was shown to be associated with greater health care utilization compared to the general population [3, 4]. Other reports show a lack of primary care in NHs [6], leading to unnecessary hospitalizations for the elderly [7,8,9]. The insufficient availability of general practitioners (GPs) and acute care were identified to be the main reasons for unnecessary hospital admissions in several studies [8, 13]
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