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P4‐134: OPTIMIZING EATING PERFORMANCE AMONG COGNITIVELY IMPAIRED OLDER ADULTS: FACILITATORS AND BARRIERS FROM NURSING ASSISTANTS’ PERSPECTIVE
Author(s) -
Liu Wen,
Shaw Clarissa,
Tripp-Reimer Toni,
Williams Kristine N.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.2538
Subject(s) - focus group , dementia , nursing , perspective (graphical) , psychology , perception , qualitative research , content analysis , medicine , social science , disease , pathology , marketing , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , sociology , computer science , business
steps towards bridging this major gap in research and practice. Methods: A systematic and ongoing online search between 2012-2015 identified reports on the death of 105 elder residents as a result of RRI in dementia in LTC homes. All the information identified is publicly available and primarily consists newspaper articles published mostly in the U.S. and Canada as well as death review reports to the Chief Coroner of Ontario. Descriptive content analysis was used as the data analysis approach. Simple descriptive statistics were used to identify practically useful patterns and insights. Results: The majority of the fatal incidents were not witnessed by staff and occurred inside bedrooms. Close to half of the incidents occurred in the evening hours and substantial portion took place between roommates. Close to half of the incidents were classified as "push-fall” episodes. Half of the injuries consisted head/face or brain injuries and one-third were hip fractures. The most common causes of deaths were blunt head trauma (29%) and complications from fractures (20%). On average, target residents died 16 days after the incident but one-quarter died on the same day. Conclusions:The first and most comprehensive study on fatal RRI in dementia in LTC homes in North America identified potential gaps in practice (e.g. ability to supervise residents effectively) and practically useful patterns pertaining to the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of 105 elders as a result of these incidents. The findings could inform LTC homes and other stakeholders’ efforts to prevent future deaths in similar circumstances, keep vulnerable and frail residents safe, and encourage researchers to conduct large-scale studies on fatal RRI to identify risk and protective factors of this underrecognized phenomenon.