Improving Treatment of Elderly Patients by Interprofessional Education in a Quality Network of Geriatric Medicine: Protocol for Evaluating an Educational Initiative (Preprint)

Abstract

Background. All figures on the development of demand for care for multimorbid elderly patients highlight the acute pressure to act in order to adequately respond to the expected increase in geriatric patients in the next 15 years. Against this background, major importance must be attached to the improvement of cross-occupational group and cross-sector treatment of these patients. In addition, many professionals in the health care sector (physicians, care providers, therapists, social workers) often have little knowledge about the special treatment and care needs of the elderly, in particular in facilities without the specific assignment to provide care to geriatric patients.Objective. The "Qualitätsverbund Geriatrie Nord-West-Deutschland e.V." (QVG NWD, English: Quality network of geriatric medicine in north-west Germany) is the body responsible for the project; with its current 57 member organizations; it provides care for over 400,000 inpatients and is thus one of the largest associations for geriatrics in Germany. QVG NWD conducts binding, evaluated qualification measures for staff involved in the treatment and care of multimorbid elderly patients. This approach is intended to improve the expertise of various occupational groups on different hierarchy levels, to include patients and their family members in the evaluation process, and to initiate changes within the organizations. Method. Various instruments are utilized in the evaluation of qualification measures:Besides written surveys and questionnaires, structured work groups (consensus groups) and interviews are conducted. The evaluation starts before the qualification measures in order to determine the starting point and is then continued during the measure and after its completion. This allows major findings to be integrated directly into the ongoing qualification program.Results. The before and after comparison of the treatment-related outcomes at the beginning and near the end of the educational initiative gives insights into how transfer-oriented education can improve the treatment of elderly patients across sector lines (inpatient / outpatient). The evaluation of the implementation of educational contents in day-to-day work and occupational groups is to facilitate recommendations about economically sensible use of educational resources and about further adjustments to training contents. Conclusion.The evaluation develops foundations for targeted and needs-oriented qualification measures as well as transfer in cross-sector, multi-professional networks.Instruments and results will be published and provided to other health care networks and -institutions. QVG NWD will implement the results of the evaluation process in its member institutions.