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One in three nursing home (NH) residents experience adverse events. One strategy for safer NH care is health information technology (HIT). Two national NH surveys measuring HIT maturity were administered in 2020 (N = 719) and 2021 (N = 312). Quarterly NH survey deficiencies from the same years were linked to HIT maturity surveys. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used in analysis. NHs were of similar size and location, with more for-profit facilities. Most (67.5% and 61.9%, respectively) NH administrators reported having capabilities to share data internally within their facility, and not externally. Mean HIT maturity scores increased from Year 1 to Year 2. Over 2 years, 5,406 deficiencies were reported, mostly (31.3%) for nutrition and dietary deficiencies. There were negative associations between HIT maturity and deficiency scope. With a 1-unit increase in HIT maturity, relative risk of widespread scope decreased by 14%. Among covariates, bed size, staffing, and year were significant factors associated with deficiency scope. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 50(1), 8–14.], In the United States, >3 million Americans rely on nursing home (NH) services in any given year within more than 15,600 facilities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The [...]

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) convened a committee in Fall 2020 to address the quality of nursing home care with three specific tasks: (1) examine how [...]

The importance of health information technology use in nursing home (NH) care delivery is a major topic in research exploring methods to improve resident care. Topics of interest include how technology investments, infrastructure, and work-force development lead to better methods of nursing care delivery and outcomes. Value propositions, including perceived benefits, incentives, and system changes recognized by end-users, are important resources to inform NH leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders about technology. The purpose of the current research was to identify and disseminate value propositions from a community of stakeholders using a health information exchange (HIE). Researchers used a nominal group process, including 49 individual stakeholders participating in a national demonstration project to reduce avoidable hospitalizations in NHs. Stakeholders identified 41 total anticipated changes from using HIE. Ten stakeholder types were perceived to have experienced the highest impact from HIE in areas related to resident admissions, communication, and efficiency of care delivery. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48(1), 15–20.], The world increasingly shares information via electronic and automated mechanisms; however, many nursing homes (NHs) and health care professionals in these settings are not part of this trend. Inefficient paper-based [...]

Despite evidence acknowledging disadvantages in care provided to older adults in rural nursing homes (NHs) in the United States, since 2010, no literature review has focused on differences in care provided in urban versus rural NHs. In the current study, we examined these differences by searching U.S. English-language peer-reviewed articles published after 2010 on differences in care quality in urban and rural NHs. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for quality appraisal. We conducted full-text abstraction of 56 (of 286) articles, identifying 10 relevant studies. Metric specification of urban/rural location varied, and care quality measures were wide-ranging, making it difficult to interpret evidence. Limited evidence supported that rural NHs, compared to urban NHs, provided sparse mental health support and limited access to hospice care after controlling for facility and resident characteristics. Our review highlights the need for more research examining differences in quality of care between urban and rural NHs and raises several issues in current research examining urban/rural NH differences where future work is needed. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 47(12), 48–56.], As the U.S. population ages, needs for care are evolving. Long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes (NHs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and assisted living facilities (ALFs), provide a variety [...]

Social network analysis (SNA) uses quantitative methods to analyze relationships between people. In the current study, SNA was applied in two nursing homes (NHs) to describe how health care teams interact via text messages. Two data sources were used: (a) a Qualtrics® survey completed by advanced practice RNs containing resident transfer data, and (b) text messages from a secure platform called Mediprocity™. SNA software was used to generate a visual representation of the social networks and calculate quantitative measures of network structure, including density, clustering coefficient, hierarchy, and centralization. Differences were found in the low and high transfer rate NHs for all SNA measures. Staff in the NH with low transfer rate had greater decision-making interactions, higher information exchange rates, and more individuals communicating with each other compared to the high transfer rate NH. SNA can be applied to examine communication patterns found in text messages occurring around the time of NH resident transfers. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 47(7), 16–22.], For more than a decade, national initiatives have focused on reducing unnecessary hospitalizations for nursing home (NH) residents due to negative effects on resident health and high costs to Medicare [...]

The term global village is frequently used to express the belief that people throughout the world are interconnected. The term was introduced in the early 1960s by Canadian media theorist [...]