LTC Facilities (ltc + facility)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Barriers to provision of dental care in long-term care facilities: the confrontation with ageing and death

GERODONTOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Ina Nitschke
Objective:, The aim of the study was to reveal barriers to providing dental care for residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Design:, Participants were selected randomly from the dentist register in Berlin and Saxony, Germany. The sample consisted of 60 self-employed and 60 employed dentists, a further 60 dentists worked in their own dental practice but also part-time in an LTC facility. In semi-structured interviews a questionnaire with 36 statements concerning working conditions, administration and cost, insecurity concerning treatment decisions as well as confrontation with ageing and death was employed. Subsequently, the study participants were asked to rank the four dimensions concerning their impact on the decision against providing dental care in an LTC facility. Results:, The random sample was representative in age and gender for the dental register in Berlin and Saxony. Fifty-six per cent of the participants (63% of the men and 51% of the women; 52% of the self-employed, 60% of the employed and 56% of the consultant dentists) indicated unfavourable working conditions as biggest obstacle in providing dental care in an LTC-facility. Thirty-two per cent of participants rated administration and cost, 7% the insecurity in treatment decisions as major hindrance. Only 5% of the participants rated the confrontation with age and death as substantial barrier. There were no age and gender differences. Dentists in Berlin seemed more concerned about administration and cost of a consultancy activity and less secure in their therapy decisions than the colleagues from Saxony (p < 0.001). Dentists who work partly in LTC facilities were the least concerned about the confrontation with ageing and death (not significant), employed dentist showed the least secure in their treatment decisions (p > 0.001). Conclusion:, It can be concluded that the awareness of infra-structural and financial aspects in providing dental care in LTC facilities should be raised with health politicians and that these aspects should be considered when inaugurating or re-structuring the consultancy services to LTC facilities. Further it would be desirable to establish more postgraduate training programmes to increase clinical and ethical competence in the area of gerodontology. [source]


Treatment of Dementia in Community-Dwelling and Institutionalized Medicare Beneficiaries

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2007
Ann L. Gruber-Baldini PhD
OBJECTIVES: To establish nationally representative estimates of the use of agents to treat Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) and related behavioral symptoms in Medicare beneficiaries and to describe medication use according to residential status and other patient characteristics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional prevalence study. SETTING: Community and various long-term care (LTC) settings. PARTICIPANTS: Twelve thousand six hundred ninety-seven beneficiaries from the 2002 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), of whom 11,593 were community dwelling and 1,104 resided in various LTC settings. MEASUREMENTS: ADRDs were identified according to International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes in Medicare claims and self- and proxy reports. Medication use was derived from self-reports (community) and extracts of facility medication administration records (LTC). RESULTS: In 2002, an estimated 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries were diagnosed with ADRDs (8.1%), of whom 58.9% resided in the community (prevalence rate=5.1%) and 41.1% resided in LTC facilities (prevalence rate=57.2%). Use of antidementia drugs was similar across settings, with 24.7% of subjects with dementia in the community and 26.3% of those in LTC receiving prescriptions for donepezil, galantamine, or rivastigmine. Use of haloperidol was comparable (and low) in both settings. Use of atypical antipsychotics, especially risperidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine, was much higher in LTC residents (21.0%, 11.9%, and 7.1%, respectively) than in the community (5.1%, 4.0%, and 2.3%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ADRDs in LTC settings is much larger than in the community, but there is little difference in the proportions receiving antidementia drugs, although LTC residents are more likely to be treated with atypical antipsychotics (risperidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine), presumably for behavioral symptoms. [source]


Effect of an Educational Intervention on Optimizing Antibiotic Prescribing in Long-Term Care Facilities

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2007
(See Editorial Comments by Dr. Lona Mody on pp 130, 1302)
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of an educational intervention aimed at optimizing antibiotic prescribing in long-term care (LTC) facilities. DESIGN: Cluster randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: Eight public LTC facilities in the Montreal area. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six physicians. INTERVENTION: The educational intervention consisted of mailing an antibiotic guide to physicians along with their antibiotic prescribing profile covering the previous 3 months. Targeted infections were urinary tract, lower respiratory tract, skin and soft tissues, and septicemia of unknown origin. In the prescribing profile, each antibiotic was classified as adherent or nonadherent to the guide. Physicians in the experimental group received the intervention twice, 4 months apart, whereas physicians in the control group provided usual care. MEASUREMENTS: Data on antibiotic prescriptions were collected over four 3-month periods: preintervention, postintervention I, postintervention II, and follow-up. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was used to compare the proportion of nonadherent antibiotic prescriptions of the experimental and control groups. RESULTS: By the end of the study, nonadherent antibiotic prescriptions decreased by 20.5% in the experimental group, compared with 5.1% in the control group. Based on the GEE model, during postintervention II, physicians in the experimental group were 64% less likely to prescribe nonadherent antibiotics than those in the control group (odds ratio=0.36, 95% confidence interval=0.18,0.73). CONCLUSION: An educational intervention combining an antibiotic guide and a prescribing profile was effective in decreasing nonadherent antibiotic prescriptions. Repetition of the intervention at regular intervals may be necessary to maintain its effectiveness. [source]


Caries management for institutionalized elders using fluoride and chlorhexidine mouthrinses

COMMUNITY DENTISTRY AND ORAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 5 2004
Chris C. L. Wyatt
Abstract , Objectives:, The effectiveness of either a 0.2% neutral sodium fluoride (NaF) solution or a 0.12% chlorhexidine (CHX) solution as a daily mouthrinse for controlling caries was tested against a placebo rinse in this 2-year randomized clinical trial among elders in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Methods:, At baseline, 369 recruits were examined clinically for caries and allocated randomly to one of the mouthrinse groups. Results:, After 2 years, 116 participants remained in the trial. The prevalence of caries and the dental status of the groups were similar at baseline and after 2 years. On average, each group lost less than one tooth per person, but the fluoride group compared with the others had significantly less caries and significantly more reversals from carious to sound dental surfaces at the end of the trial. Conclusions:, We conclude that 0.2% neutral NaF mouthrinse every day does reduce the incidence of caries among elders in LTC facilities. [source]


Barriers to provision of dental care in long-term care facilities: the confrontation with ageing and death

GERODONTOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Ina Nitschke
Objective:, The aim of the study was to reveal barriers to providing dental care for residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Design:, Participants were selected randomly from the dentist register in Berlin and Saxony, Germany. The sample consisted of 60 self-employed and 60 employed dentists, a further 60 dentists worked in their own dental practice but also part-time in an LTC facility. In semi-structured interviews a questionnaire with 36 statements concerning working conditions, administration and cost, insecurity concerning treatment decisions as well as confrontation with ageing and death was employed. Subsequently, the study participants were asked to rank the four dimensions concerning their impact on the decision against providing dental care in an LTC facility. Results:, The random sample was representative in age and gender for the dental register in Berlin and Saxony. Fifty-six per cent of the participants (63% of the men and 51% of the women; 52% of the self-employed, 60% of the employed and 56% of the consultant dentists) indicated unfavourable working conditions as biggest obstacle in providing dental care in an LTC-facility. Thirty-two per cent of participants rated administration and cost, 7% the insecurity in treatment decisions as major hindrance. Only 5% of the participants rated the confrontation with age and death as substantial barrier. There were no age and gender differences. Dentists in Berlin seemed more concerned about administration and cost of a consultancy activity and less secure in their therapy decisions than the colleagues from Saxony (p < 0.001). Dentists who work partly in LTC facilities were the least concerned about the confrontation with ageing and death (not significant), employed dentist showed the least secure in their treatment decisions (p > 0.001). Conclusion:, It can be concluded that the awareness of infra-structural and financial aspects in providing dental care in LTC facilities should be raised with health politicians and that these aspects should be considered when inaugurating or re-structuring the consultancy services to LTC facilities. Further it would be desirable to establish more postgraduate training programmes to increase clinical and ethical competence in the area of gerodontology. [source]


Computerized Physician Order Entry with Clinical Decision Support in the Long-Term Care Setting: Insights from the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2005
Paula A. Rochon MD
Although computerized physician order entry (CPOE) has been successfully implemented in many acute care hospitals, few descriptions of its use in the long-term care (LTC) setting are available. This report describes the experiences of one LTC facility in developing and implementing a CPOE system with clinical decision support (CDS). Even when a facility has the necessary resources and "institutional will," many challenges are associated with the implementation of this application. The system was designed to meet the needs of healthcare providers in the LTC setting, in particular by informing prescribing decisions, reducing the frequency of prescribing and monitoring errors, and reducing adverse drug event rates. Based on experience adopting this technology early, 10 insights are offered that it is hoped will assist others who are considering the implementation of CPOE systems with CDS in the LTC setting. [source]