BackgroundEarlier studies in nursing homes show a high prevalence of cognitive impairment, dependency in activities of daily living (ADL), pain, and neuropsychiatric symptoms among residents. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of the above among residents in a nationally representative sample of Swedish nursing homes, and to investigate whether pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms differ in relation to gender, cognitive function, ADL-capacity, type of nursing-home unit and length of stay.MethodsCross-sectional data from 188 randomly selected nursing homes were collected. A total of 4831 residents were assessed for cognitive and ADL function, pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test.ResultsThe results show the following: the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 67 %, 56 % of residents were ADL-dependent, 48 % exhibited pain and 92 % exhibited neuropsychiatric symptoms. The prevalence of pain did not differ significantly between male and female residents, but pain was more prevalent among cognitively impaired and ADL-dependent residents. Pain prevalence was not significantly different between residents in special care units for people with dementia (SCU) and general units, or between shorter-and longer-stay residents. Furthermore, the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms did not differ significantly between male and female residents, between ADL capacities or in relation to length of stay. However, residents with cognitive impairment and residents in SCUs had a significantly higher prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms than residents without cognitive impairment and residents in general units.ConclusionsThe prevalence rates ascertained in this study could contribute to a greater understanding of the needs of nursing-home residents, and may provide nursing home staff and managers with trustworthy assessment scales and benchmark values for further quality assessment purposes, clinical development work and initiating future nursing assessments.

Even though the prevalence of resident participation in everyday activities was low, resident participation was significantly associated with unit person-centredness and resident quality of life. It seems that everyday activities that are routine and commonplace to residential aged care can be potent nursing interventions for promoting resident quality of life.

Promoting a positive and supportive psychosocial climate and a work environment where staff experience balance between demands and control in their work, to enable person-centred care practice, seems to be important implications for managers and leaders in residential aged care.

ObjectivesInvestigate the use of call-out (CO) and closed-loop communication (CLC) during a simulated emergency situation, and its relation to profession, age, gender, ethnicity, years in profession, educational experience, work experience and leadership style.DesignExploratory study.SettingIn situ simulator-based interdisciplinary team training using trauma cases at an emergency department.ParticipantsThe result was based on 16 trauma teams with a total of 96 participants. Each team consisted of two physicians, two registered nurses and two enrolled nurses, identical to a standard trauma team.ResultsThe results in this study showed that the use of CO and CLC in trauma teams was limited, with an average of 20 CO and 2.8 CLC/team. Previous participation in trauma team training did not increase the frequency of use of CLC while ≥2 structured trauma courses correlated with increased use of CLC (risk ratio (RR) 3.17, CI 1.22 to 8.24). All professions in the trauma team were observed to initiate and terminate CLC (except for the enrolled nurse from the operation theatre). The frequency of team members’ use of CLC increased significantly with an egalitarian leadership style (RR 1.14, CI 1.04 to 1.26).ConclusionsThis study showed that despite focus on the importance of communication in terms of CO and CLC, the difficulty in achieving safe and reliable verbal communication within the interdisciplinary team remained. This finding indicates the need for validated training models combined with further implementation studies.

Background: Person-centered care is a multidimensional concept describing good care, especially within aged care and care for people with dementia. Research studies evaluating person-centered care interventions seldom use direct measurement of levels of person-centeredness. Existing scales that measure person-centeredness need further testing. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Person-Centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT).Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 1465 staff from 195 residential care units for older people in Sweden participated in the study. Validity, reliability, and discrimination ability of the scale were evaluated.Results: Confirmatory factor analysis, parallel analysis and exploratory factor analysis supported the construct validity of a two-factor solution. Reliability and homogeneity were satisfactory for the whole P-CAT as demonstrated by a Cronbach's α of 0.75. Test-retest reliability showed temporal stability of the scale, and the discrimination ability of the scale was satisfactory.Conclusion: The Swedish version of the P-CAT was found to be valid, reliable, and applicable for further use. Two subscales are recommended for the Swedish version.