Implementation of a Standardized Comprehensive Assessment Tool in France: A Case Using the InterRAI Instruments

Abstract

Background:The improvement of quality of care requires a standardized and comprehensive assessment tool but implementation is challenging.Purpose:We have reported on the development of the interRAI instruments in France from the onset to the mandatory use at the national level. We also have identified in the literature and in practices, incentives and barriers for the implementation of this integrated clinical information system in long term care.Results:Three periods in the interRAI instruments development were identified over the last twenty years. The first one was a research approach about improving quality of long term care. The second one was an experimental clinical use into an integrated care model with case management. The third one was a call for tenders issued by a French national agency, and the choice to use the interRAI-HC (Home Care) for all case managers. The main incentives and barriers that were identified include the national context, the target population, the providers involved and the impact on their practice, the interRAI instrument characteristics, training and leadership.Conclusion:This historical overview of the development of interRAI instruments in France gives health care organizations pertinent information to guide the implementation of a standardized and comprehensive assessment tool.

The Implementation of Integrated Health Information Systems – Research Studies from 7 Countries Involving the InterRAI Assessment System

“…The third period was carried out by a call for tenders issued by a French national agency. It was decided that interRAI HC was to be implemented for all case managers [44].…”

“…In the past decades, governments of several countries have shown interest in the interRAI Suite [13][14][15][16][17][18]. In this paper, we describe the recent implementation process in seven countries: Belgium, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Finland and New Zealand.…”

Implementation leadership of the Resident Assessment Instrument in healthcare services for older people: An interview study of specialists

“…It also provides unit-and organizational-level information on implementation status and outcomes, care planning and resource allocation tools, and quality indicators that can be used for operational development (interRAI, 2023) and decision-making (de Almeida Mello et al, 2023). Some challenges have been identified in the implementation of the RAI (Roth et al, 2014), and they can be influenced by leadership (Boorsma et al, 2013;de Stampa et al, 2018). Although, at a general level, leadership has been found to be related to various implementation determinants, features and implementation outcomes (Li et al, 2018;Meza et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2020), more knowledge is needed on the leadership and content of RAI implementation process in healthcare services for older people.…”

Evaluation of the added value of Brain Natriuretic Peptide to a validated mortality risk-prediction model in older people using a standardised international clinical assessment tool

“…long-term care facilities, or discipline e.g mental health, although a large proportion of the questions are identical. This enables monitoring of changes of status between assessments as the patient moves through their health journey and life course [9]. Although the primary purpose of any interRAI assessment is to provide a standardised assessment to create individualised care plans, they also provide a comprehensive dataset at a population level which can be valuable to aid research aimed at improving outcomes for our most vulnerable older population [10].…”