Dataset Information

Hearing and vision care provided to older people residing in care homes: a cross-sectional survey of care home staff.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hearing and vision loss in older people has been proven to affect physical and mental health and increase the speed of cognitive decline. Studies have demonstrated that certain practices and improved staff knowledge increase the effective care of residents' ears and eyes, yet it is not known which practices are being implemented in care homes. This study aimed to identify the gaps in staff knowledge regarding hearing and vision difficulties in older residents, and which practices known to improve ear and eye care in older care home residents are not commonly implemented in care homes in England.

Methods

This study used a cross-sectional survey design. Survey questions were informed by the existing literature and were focused on practices, staff knowledge, and other aspects that have shown to affect residents' hearing and vision care. A convenience sample of care home staff were recruited from care homes across England between November 2018 and February 2019 via email and in paper format. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square analysis were applied to identify the factors influencing the care being provided to care home residents.

Results

A total of 400 care home staff responded from 74 care homes. The results revealed that less than half of staff respondents reported to use screening tools to identify hearing (46%) and vision impairments (43.8%); that care homes rarely have access to other assistive devices for hearing (16%) and vision loss (23.8%), and that audiology services do not regularly assess care home residents (46.8%). A majority of staff who responded were not confident in ear and eye care. Responses were found to be influenced by the respondents' job role, length of time working in care homes and also the care home type. Findings confirmed a lack of standardised practice and the importance of shared communication for promulgation of best practice.

Conclusion

This study has identified that some practices known to facilitate ear and eye care are not commonly applied in a sample of English care homes. It has also shown that care home staff knowledge of ear and eye care is inconsistent. The information derived from this survey can be used to inform guidelines for best practice and inform needs for future research.

SUBMITTER: Andrusjak W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7791835 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Hearing and vision care provided to older people residing in care homes: a cross-sectional survey of care home staff.

Andrusjak Wendy W Barbosa Ana A Mountain Gail G

BMC geriatrics 20210108 1

<h4>Background</h4>Hearing and vision loss in older people has been proven to affect physical and mental health and increase the speed of cognitive decline. Studies have demonstrated that certain practices and improved staff knowledge increase the effective care of residents' ears and eyes, yet it is not known which practices are being implemented in care homes. This study aimed to identify the gaps in staff knowledge regarding hearing and vision difficulties in older residents, and which practi ...[more]

PMID: 33419404

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Project description:ImportancePneumonia affects more than 250 000 nursing home (NH) residents annually. A strategy to reduce pneumonia is to provide daily mouth care, especially to residents with dementia.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of Mouth Care Without a Battle, a program that increases staff knowledge and attitudes regarding oral hygiene, changes mouth care, and improves oral hygiene, in reducing the incidence of pneumonia among NH residents.Design, setting, and participantsThis pragmatic cluster randomized trial observing 2152 NH residents for up to 2 years was conducted from September 2014 to May 2017. Data collectors were masked to study group. The study included 14 NHs from regions of North Carolina that evidenced proportionately high rehospitalization rates for pneumonia and long-term care residents. Nursing homes were pair matched and randomly assigned to intervention or control groups.InterventionMouth Care Without a Battle is a standardized program that teaches that mouth care is health care, provides instruction on individualized techniques and products for mouth care, and trains caregivers to provide care to residents who are resistant and in special situations. The control condition was standard mouth care.Main outcomes and measuresPneumonia incidence (primary) and hospitalization and mortality (secondary), obtained from medical records.ResultsOverall, the study enrolled 2152 residents (mean [SD] age, 79.4 [12.4] years; 1281 [66.2%] women; 1180 [62.2%] white residents). Participants included 1219 residents (56.6%) in 7 intervention NHs and 933 residents (43.4%) in 7 control NHs. During the 2-year study period, the incidence rate of pneumonia per 1000 resident-days was 0.67 and 0.72 in the intervention and control NHs, respectively. Neither the primary (unadjusted) nor secondary (covariate-adjusted) analyses found a significant reduction in pneumonia due to Mouth Care Without a Battle during 2 years (unadjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.90; upper bound of 1-sided 95% CI, 1.24; P = .27; adjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.92; upper bound of 1-sided 95% CI, 1.27; P = .30). In the second year, the rate of pneumonia was nonsignificantly higher in intervention NHs. Adjusted post hoc analyses limited to the first year found a significant reduction in pneumonia incidence in intervention NHs (IRR, 0.69; upper bound of 1-sided 95% CI, 0.94; P = .03).Conclusions and relevanceThis matched-pairs cluster randomized trial of a mouth care program compared with standard care was not effective in reducing pneumonia incidence at 2 years, although reduction was found during the first year. The lack of significant results in the second year may be associated with sustainability. Improving mouth care in US NHs may require the presence and support of dedicated oral care aides.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03817450.

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Dataset Information

Hearing and vision care provided to older people residing in care homes: a cross-sectional survey of care home staff.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Hearing and vision care provided to older people residing in care homes: a cross-sectional survey of care home staff.

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