COVID-19 management in nursing homes by outbreak teams (MINUTES) — study description and data characteristics: a qualitative study

Abstract

ObjectivesNursing homes are hit relatively hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dutch long-term care (LTC) organisations installed outbreak teams (OTs) to coordinate COVID-19 infection prevention and control. LTC organisations and relevant national policy organisations expressed the need to share experiences from these OTs that can be applied directly in COVID-19 policy. The aim of the ‘COVID-19 management in nursing homes by outbreak teams’ (MINUTES) study is to describe the challenges, responses and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Dutch nursing homes. In this first article, we describe the MINUTES Study and present data characteristics.DesignThis large-scale multicentre study has a qualitative design using manifest content analysis. The participating organisations shared their OT minutes and other meeting documents on a weekly basis. Data from week 16 (April) to week 53 (December) 2020 included the first two waves of COVID-19.SettingNational study with 41 large Dutch LTC organisations.ParticipantsThe LTC organisations represented 563 nursing home locations and almost 43 000 residents.ResultsAt least 36 of the 41 organisations had one or more SARS-CoV-2 infections among their residents. Most OTs were composed of management, medical staff, support services staff, policy advisors and communication specialists. Topics that emerged from the documents were: crisis management, isolation of residents, personal protective equipment and hygiene, staff, residents’ well-being, visitor policies, testing and vaccination.ConclusionsOT meeting minutes are a valuable data source to monitor the impact of and responses to COVID-19 in nursing homes. Depending on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection and analysis will continue until November 2021. The results are used directly in national and organisational COVID-19 policy.

The Impact of Social Distancing Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on People with Dementia, Family Carers and Healthcare Professionals: A Qualitative Study

“…Furthermore, even before the pandemic, more people with dementia were staying at home longer. This may be increased during the pandemic due to admission stops [ 19 , 20 ], fear for not being able to visit their relative due to visitor bans, and because LTCF were considered the most important hotspot for COVID-19 deaths [ 19 , 21 ]. Additionally, home care restrictions asked even more from family carers.…”

Job Demands, Work Functioning and Mental Health in Dutch Nursing Home Staff during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Study

“…The directors of nursing home organizations, who were participating in the MINUTES study [ 15 ], were asked by e-mail in May 2020 to participate in the current study. In addition, the directors of organizations from a nursing home research network of Northern Netherlands (UNO-UMCG) were asked to participate.…”

“…Dutch nursing homes provide multidisciplinary care for the elderly and chronically ill, comprising a wide range of inpatient and outpatient medical and social care. Furthermore, many nursing home organizations provide geriatric rehabilitation and homecare [ 14 , 15 ]. The care is provided by the multidisciplinary teams employed by the nursing homes.…”

Distancing Measures and Challenges Discussed by COVID-19 Outbreak Teams of Dutch Nursing Homes: The COVID-19 MINUTES Study

“…The present study is part of the “COVID-19 management in nursing homes by outbreak teams” (MINUTES) study. In this multi-center study, minutes and other meeting documents of the central COVID-19 outbreak teams of Dutch long-term care organizations were collected from March 2020 through October 2021 [ 18 ]. A detailed description and first results of this study are published elsewhere [ 18 ].…”

“…Dutch long-term care organizations usually have separate nursing home departments for residents with psychogeriatric disorders, such as dementia, and departments for residents that mainly suffer from somatic disorders [ 21 , 22 ]. With severe infectious disease outbreaks, Dutch long-term care organizations convert their infection prevention and control committees into, or install, central outbreak teams [ 18 , 23 ]. The central COVID-19 outbreak teams were multidisciplinary and often include management representatives, medical staff, policy advisors, support services, and communication specialists [ 18 , 23 ].…”