AMDA Foundation - Participating Nursing Homes: Learning Applied Research Skills

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Vol XXII, Oct `06

Participating Nursing Homes: Learning Applied Research Skills

Vol XXII, Oct `06

In addition to receiving their assigned clinical practice guideline (i.e., pain management or pressure ulcer prevention) and implementation toolkit and one-on-one mentoring, nursing homes participating in the LTCQI Partnership are learning skills they can apply to other internal quality improvement projects:

Teamwork. Working together in interdisciplinary teams is a good way to engage staff at all levels of an organization while collaboratively focusing on an identified topic. In the LTC-QI Partnership, nursing home teams implement the CPGs over the course of nine months between data collection periods 1 and 2.

Data collection. Nursing homes collect data every day in a variety of sources, including residents’ charts; but often, they do not think of this work as data collection. For the LTC-QI partnership, participating nursing homes complete three data collection periods. Through this process, they learn how to select a sample of residents, conduct chart audits, and understand how looking at data helps their facility measure and improve care. All of these skills directly apply to other quality improvement work—and measuring improvement helps homes assess their progress and allocate resources.

Information technology. Using computers is an increasingly important way to access and/or share information. The LTC-QI Partnership’s data collection website enables participating nursing homes to complete their chart audits electronically, and then receive their facility’s customized data feedback reports instantly.

In addition to learning skills for internal quality improvement, nursing homes gain exposure to research concepts (e.g., testing and measuring interventions), and requirements (e.g., Human Subjects Training and the Institutional Review Board process). This knowledge can apply to future projects.