Researchers from the University of Colorado College of Nursing and the CU School of Medicine at Anschutz Medical Campus have received a $1.35 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to design and implement technologies that improve the safety of residents and the long-term well-being of employees. – long-term care facilities.
Long-term care facilities in the United States are in crisis, struggling with few resources and high staff turnover. With high turnover, all training investments for employees are lost when that employee leaves. Then those training sessions become very limited, which is a problem. The results of the residents and the results of the staff are therefore intertwined.”
Mustafa Ozkaynak, PhD, associate professor of nursing and member of the CU School of Medicine faculty of medicine
The research team, led by Ozkaynak, will develop and test decision support technologies tailored for long-term care facilities. These digital tools, such as alerts and predictions, provide timely information about patients and conditions, helping healthcare providers make informed care decisions. The technologies increase patient safety and reduce staff burnout in hospitals and primary care settings.
There is limited research on how these tools can address the unique challenges faced by long-term care facilities.
“Poor quality of care and safety in long-term care facilities – especially for people with dementia – leads to preventable falls, emergency visits, hospital admissions, injuries and even increased mortality. This was made even clearer to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we need to work in this area and spread fundamental knowledge to improve care,” says Ozkaynak.
This research will be conducted in three parts over a three-year period. In the first year, researchers will focus on understanding how employees in long-term care facilities work by analyzing policies, rules, procedures and work culture. Researchers will conduct workshops with residents and learn how to implement decision technology to improve their care. Decision support technologies will be implemented at the end of year two and researchers will evaluate how staff use them.
The study will begin in the fall of 2024 in two assisted living communities in the Denver Metro and a nursing home in rural Wyoming.
“This is a very exciting opportunity,” says Ozkaynak. “We think this will be an area where we can make a huge difference because there is little research on it. Everything we do will hopefully lead to additional research that will help improve the long-term care health care system.”
CU Nursing Assistant Professor Dawon Baik, PhD, RN, and CU School of Medicine Professor of Medicine Cari Levy, MD, PhD are also part of the research team, along with other CU Nursing faculty and research assistants. PhD students from CU Nursing will also have the opportunity to participate in the study.